Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) developed a live-attenuated needle-free intranasal booster vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) using codon deoptimization technology in collaboration with Griffith University, Australia.
The research on the Covid-19 vaccine was published in the science Journal ‘Nature Communications’ on August 26, 2024.
“Among different formats of vaccines available, it is well known that live attenuated vaccines generate a robust and broad-spectrum neutralizing antibody response. IIL’s needle-free intranasal booster vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 developed using codon deoptimization technology demonstrated remarkable stability and maintained safety in extensive animal studies,’‘ IIL said in a release.
“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 to adopt novel technology. We are enthusiastic about the codon de-optimization technology and its use in targeted attenuation of microorganisms to be used as vaccine candidates,’‘ K Anand Kumar, Managing Director, IIL, said.
Codon deoptimization involves decreasing the frequency of underrepresented codon pairs (genetic determinant for amino acids) without changing amino acid sequences. It is a highly efficient virus attenuation strategy that utilizes suboptimal codon pairs to achieve attenuation of recoded viruses, the release added.