Hyderabad, August 28: Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a Hyderabad-based healthcare research organisation, has announced the development of a needle-free, intranasal booster vaccine against COVID-19. Known as CDO-7N-1, the first-of-its-kind vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 has been developed by IIL in collaboration with Australia's Griffith University. It is a game-changer in the COVID-19 vaccine research and provides relief for those who fear needles.

CDO-7N-1 is supposed to be a single-dose booster vaccine against Coronavirus, without causing any side effects. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 virus is still dangerous, causing fatalities of around 1,700 per week globally. The CDO-7N-1 vaccine's development is being hailed as a major step forward in the battle against COVID-19.

CDO-7N-1 Design and Working

The CDO-7N-1 is a live attenuated vaccine. It was designed to be administered nasally, allowing it to trigger both mucosal and systemic immunity, which provides better protection against the COVID-19 virus and its evolving variants. The company claims that the vaccine's "completely guided attenuation and the means are well known, and the attenuated virus is expected to present all the antigens and mimics natural infection," making it more potent. Furthermore, the vaccine remains stable at 4 degrees Celsius for up to seven months. This makes it a preferred alternative for all the low-and-middle-income countries, where temperature and humidity are higher than most European countries, causing vaccines to spoil before ever being used. COVID-19 Frauds: About 77% of Indian Firms Witnessed Surge in Fraudulent Activities During and After Pandemic, Says Report.

The intranasal COVID-19 vaccine's research was published first in the Science Journal Nature Communications on August 26. It has been developed using the Codon Deoptimization technology, which uses suboptimal codon pairs to achieve highly efficient attenuation of recoded viruses. Without altering the amino acid sequences, the codon deoptimization technique reduces the frequency of under-represented codon pairings, which are the genetic determinants for amino acids. What is Mpox? How It Spreads, Can Be Prevented and Treated.

Unlike the other m-RNA vaccines developed to combat COVID-19, like the Pfizer Comirnaty and the Moderna Spikevax, which target only the spike protein on the surface of the virus, the CDO-7N-1 vaccine stood better than its available competitors. As quoted by a Business Standard report, Dr K Anand Kumar, Managing Director, IIL, claimed that CDO-7N-1 "induces immunity to all major SARS-CoV-2 proteins and is effective against all major variants to date."

IIL also claimed that CDO-7N-1 has demonstrated greater stability and maintained safety during their extensive animal studies. While addressing the media, Dr Kumar said, "This accomplishment signifies a major step forward in our battle against COVID-19. The development of this vaccine not only highlights our dedication to innovation in public health but also demonstrates IIL’s capability in adopting novel technology."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2024 02:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).