(Image via Rapid Dose Therapeutics Corp.)
Can a vaccine be delivered orally? We are about to find out.
Traditional Vaccination – Challenges with the Current Situation:
The traditional method of giving a vaccination via an injection into the muscle has been problematic.
Beyond the unpleasant experience for patients to get jabbed with a needle, some, such as the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, rely on strict cold-chain storage and transportation requirements, which equates to enormous costs related to the procurement and delivery of vials and syringes.
From a healthcare professional perspective, the need for administration by highly trained personnel results in significant rollout delays, not to mention the risk of exposure to the healthcare team to the virus during the injection process.
The transportation of these vaccines, along with the disposal of vials, syringes, and personal protective equipment (PPE) causes a significant environmental impact of global CO2 emissions, plus the displacement of patients and healthcare professions.
Traditional vaccinations are expensive, time-consuming, compromises the safety of healthcare workers, significantly impacts the environment and is operationally complex, but an oral deployment is proving to be a game changer on all these fronts.
Oral Vaccination – Game Changing Advantages:
Oral vaccinations via the buccal or sublingual route, where a strip similar to a breath strip is placed on the inside of the cheek or under the tongue, can help to eliminate many of the challenges posed by traditional vaccination as a result of it being non-invasive. People can administer oral vaccinations themselves and in rural and remote populations the strips can be delivered via mail or courier, including developing nations around the world.
Even more exciting, this new generation of vaccine, with molecules embedded into strips, does not need to be kept in a deep freeze state. This delivery system would also offer a significant benefit to the global effort to improve healthcare efficiency while also combatting climate change.
Another major advantage worth noting is that sublingual medicine can be delivered in precise doses, meaning that altering the volume would make it applicable for young people, as we have seen with the latest Pfizer research for their mRNA vaccine dosing plan for children.
While vaccine makers and oral product producers have populated Stockhouse’s news flow for some time, one company has advanced a platform that combines both ….
Rapid Dose Therapeutics Corp. (CSE: DOSE, OTC Pink: RDTCF, Forum) made
headlines recently when Ontario Premier Doug Ford toured the facility to learn more about this innovation.
This Canadian public company is focused on innovative drug and active ingredient delivery solutions. Its flagship product -
QuickStrip™ - is a thin, orally dissolvable film, infused with active ingredients that are delivered quickly into the bloodstream bypassing first-pass metabolism resulting in rapid onset of the active ingredient.
This new method of delivery represents an immense opportunity for RDT and has backing from business (through investors, stakeholders, and research analysts) as well as the medical science technology side (through a university partnership) and backing from the Federal government.
Rapid Dose Therapeutics is advancing its research into an orally delivered COVID-19 vaccine candidate through its collaborative work with public research institution McMaster University located in Hamilton, Ontario.
RDT / McMaster University’s Made-in-Canada Solution:
This last year has resulted in a number of very exciting milestones for the RDT/McMaster research team.
At Stockhouse, we are anxiously awaiting the results of the pre-clinical studies currently underway. With all of the preliminary results the company has announced, investors should take note. RDT is currently identifying partners within the pharmaceutical space for commercialization, which suggests great news to come.
In the interim, if you haven’t been watching this story unfold, here is a rundown of the announcements and successes to date. You’re sure to notice the accelerated pace of this research as a result of breakthrough technology and leading partnerships. The results of this investigation could be a game-changer in the global delivery of vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Back in
July 2020 Rapid Dose and their research partners at McMaster University took the first step toward its oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate using RDT’s QuickStrip™ technology.
In short order the research team at McMaster proved a number of key findings:
- RDT’s QuickStrip™ technology is effective at delivering proteins through buccal administration (through the mouth), validating that it could be an ideal candidate for oral vaccine delivery
- The RDT QuickStrip™ infused with proteins remains stable at 40 degrees Celsius, precluding the cold-storage requirements
In a media update from
June 2021, head immunologist on the project with McMaster University, Dr. Mark Larché, PhD said, “These preclinical results, combined with the data analyzed to date, support the promise of the QuickStrip
™ technology in the delivery of therapeutics, including vaccines to potentially protect against SARS-CoV-2.”
Polymer expert Dr. Alex Adronov, team leader for the investigation added, “With these positive results we are moving quickly into stage two of the investigation and expect that this research will lead to new technologies in vaccine delivery in the future.”
With these important early milestones achieved, the research team was keen to move into the next phase of testing that would bring more clarity to whether the QuickStrip™ is a viable delivery for a vaccine to support the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The Federal Government’s National Research Council of Canada (NRC) provided an initial supply of the SARS- CoV-2 spike protein for the McMaster Research team to infuse into the QuickStrip
™ for the second stage of the project currently underway and almost complete, which aims to deliver the spike protein via oral mucosae in animal models with the objective of generating an immune response.
Rapid Dose Therapeutics’ Chief Executive Officer, Mark Upsdell commented in the summer of 2021 that the team’s goal is to perfect the development of a robust, convenient, and easily administered delivery system for vaccines worldwide.
“With the National Research Council’s spike protein, we are able to significantly accelerate our timelines into the second stage of this timely and relevant research related to vaccines for COVID-19.
We expect to have preliminary results from this stage two development work within a few months, which will lead us to seek partners in the commercialization of the research.”
The team continued to accelerate and entered the next phase of COVID-19
QuickStrip™ Vaccine Research in July once the research team had successfully refined and optimized the formulations incorporating the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into the RDT QuickStrip™ matrix.
Dr. Larché noted in
a news release for investors that the all-hands-on-deck commitment to this research project by the team of polymer experts has put the project in a position to begin pre-clinical testing well ahead of our expected schedule.”
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus (causative agent of COVID-19) is a mucosal pathogen. There is strong data to support the idea that a mucosal vaccination route is better for protection from mucosal pathogens. This next research phase will provide additional support for using the QuickStrip
™ technology in the delivery of vaccines.”
Following on the initial phase of research that demonstrated the delivery of proteins infused into the RDT QuickStrip
™ through the mouth to elicit antibody production, the expectation is that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein will achieve the same result.
CEO Upsdell explained that the rapid progress of this important research endeavour offers a global solution that is positioned to resolve many of the current vaccine distribution and rollout challenges.
“By leveraging our innovative technology and strong scientific partnerships with institutions like McMaster University, we are well on our way to fulfilling our goal to develop a robust, convenient and easily administered vaccine delivery technology that can efficiently and effectively work with COVID-19 vaccines developed by any manufacturer or as a vaccine candidate in and of itself. This is just one of the multiple applications that our QuickStrip
™ technology offers.”
In
September 2021, RDT reported its latest update on this collaboration and released even more exiting findings – namely – it worked.
The RDT QuickStrip
™ containing a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein successfully elicited a statistically significant immune response in animal subjects involved in the first stage of investigation.
The team also achieved a significant manufacturing milestone with the manufacturing of the strip itself containing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein above 37 degrees Celsius.
Dr. Larché noted that eliciting an immune response in these test subjects is a significant milestone achieved in this pre-clinical research, bringing the team a step closer to showing the viability of a mucosal vaccination route for protection from mucosal pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Adronov added, “Now that we have evidence of antibody production in response to buccal administration of a spike-loaded QuickStrip
™, our next milestone will be to optimize the formulation to enhance the immune response to SARS-CoV-2.”
Next Steps:
Rapid Dose Therapeutics and McMaster University have already begun the last pre-clinical phase of their research working to refine and optimize the formulations by incorporating both antigen and adjuvant components with a focus on maximizing the results from the initial phase of the study.
Rapid Dose Therapeutics is a company that is moving mountains and growing faster than anticipated. What the company is offering in its sublingual vaccination research isn’t a five-year pipedream, it is imminent. This technology portfolio has been demonstrated to work successfully and the potential expands beyond just the COVID virus and could be a delivery mechanism for numerous other vaccines.
The next chapter in this partnership is already being written and the company expects more updates will be made available in early fall 2021.
The company is proving to be a great partner - with government and university, as its studies continue to hit new milestones and the company looks to advance its global sales opportunities.
RDT stock is up 87.30% year to date and 78.79% since this time, last year.
For more information, visit
www.rapid-dose.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.