TAMPA, Fla.– Oragenics, Inc. (NYSE American: OGEN) (“Oragenics” or the “Company”), a biotech company dedicated to fighting infectious diseases including coronavirus, announces the publication of an article co-authored by Oragenics and collaborators at Inspirevax and the National Research Council of Canada (“NRC”) Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal. The publication, available [https://rdcu.be/cPyZF] and titled “Intranasal Immunization with a Proteosome-Adjuvanted SARS-CoV2 Spike Protein-Based Vaccine is Immunogenic and Efficacious in Mice & Hamsters,” concluded that Oragenics’ intranasal vaccine candidate, NT-CoV2-1, warrants further development as a novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
“We’re proud to have our innovative intranasal vaccine candidate studies published in a reputable, peer-reviewed scientific journal, and believe this heightened recognition underscores the need for vaccines that address the limitations of currently available options. These published data, and our on-going GLP toxicology study will be part of our preclinical data package seeking permission to enter our first-in human clinical trials,” said Frederick W. Telling, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Oragenics.
The article, which was published as a preprint in bioRxiv in March 2022, describes studies that evaluated a novel spike protein subunit vaccine formulation, NT-CoV2-1, containing a proteosome-based mucosal adjuvant designed for intranasal immunization. The authors concluded that the intranasal formulation induced robust antigen-specific IgG and IgA titers in the blood and lungs of mice and was highly efficacious in a hamster challenge model, reducing the viral load below the limit of detection. In both mice and hamsters, the antibodies had strong neutralizing activity, preventing the cellular binding of the viral spike protein based on the ancestral reference strain and variants of concern.
