Elsevier

Drug Discovery Today

Volume 26, Issue 11, November 2021, Pages 2619-2636
Drug Discovery Today

Keynote (green)
Intranasal vaccines for SARS-CoV-2: From challenges to potential in COVID-19 management

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2021.07.021Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Intranasal vaccines provide sterilizing immunity to both upper and lower respiratory tract.

  • •

    IgA mediated localized mucosal immune protection is possible along with systemic immune responses.

  • •

    A nasal vaccine spray, unlike an injection, is painless and appealing to needle-phobic population

  • •

    Critical intranasal formulation factors include pH, mucoadhesion, nasal mucosal irritation and toxicity.

  • •

    Intranasal platforms exhibit versatility for both, prophylaxis and treatment against SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract

Unlike conventional Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, intranasal vaccines display a superior advantage because the nasal mucosa is often the initial site of infection. Preclinical and clinical studies concerning intranasal immunization elicit high neutralizing antibody generation and mucosal IgA and T cell responses that avoid severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in both; the upper and lower respiratory tract. A nasal formulation is non-invasive with high appeal to patients. Intranasal vaccines enable self-administration and can be designed to survive at ambient temperatures, thereby simplifying logistical aspects of transport and storage. In this review, we provide an overview of nasal vaccines with a focus on formulation development as well as ongoing preclinical and clinical studies for SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine products.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Nasal vaccine
Nasal spray
Antigen-presenting cells (APCs)
Dendritic cells

Cited by (0)

Vivek Chavda is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, L.M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. He was awarded a B Pharm and M Pharm by Gujarat Technological University. Before joining academia, he worked in industry in the research and development of biologics with two successful regulatory filings. His research interests include the development of biologics processing and formulations, medical device development, nanodiagnostics and nanocarrier formulations, long-acting parenteral formulations, and nanovaccines.

Lalitkumar Vora is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University, Belfast. UK He was awarded a PhD in pharmaceutics in 2017 by the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India. His research interests include polymeric drug delivery, microneedle-assisted non-invasive drug delivery, and long-acting drug delivery, specifically for infectious diseases.

Anjali Pandya is a recipient of a doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, awarded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) - Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), Government of India, for research on oral protein and peptide delivery,.

Vandana Patravale is a professor of pharmaceutics at the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India. Her research interests include development of nanocarriers with a major emphasis on malaria, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders; medical device development, nanodiagnostics, and nanovaccines. Professor Patravale has transferred many technologies to various industries including technology on drug eluting stents, which is being marketed in more than 60 countries.

View Abstract
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.