As vaccine-makers reroute their COVID-19 therapy and vaccine plans for the future of the pandemic, drugmakers are testing potential avenues with human proteins and intranasal options.
Here are two recent updates:
1. Researchers are noting progress in COVID-19 therapies that target proteins, which could help solve the recurring issue of some treatments losing their effectiveness as the virus continues to mutate. When the U.S. government allocated about half a billion dollars toward development for antivirals, though, work that explored human proteins was excluded, The Washington Post reported Oct. 31.
"Many of us were quite disappointed with that exclusion," Charles Rice, PhD, a virologist at the New York City-based Rockefeller University, told the Post. "Both of those approaches should work and should be pursued."
Early research shows promise, but treatments that target human proteins could come with their own issues. Two protein-focused medications, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, caused "distractions in the real fight" earlier in the pandemic, which Carl Dieffenbach, PhD, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said were examples of protein-targeted drugs that failed to treat COVID-19.
2. The lack of federal funding for future COVID-19 vaccines could be why the U.S. lags behind India and China when it comes to vaccines that don't require a jab, Time reported Oct. 31. India approved a nasal vaccine in September, and China began to administer an inhalable vaccine in October. Neither country has published follow-up, conclusive results but have each tested the vaccines for safety and efficacy in humans.
There are multiple ongoing efforts toward a U.S.-developed nasal vaccine, but there are still multiple unknowns and not enough funds to answer those questions, according to Time.
AstraZeneca recently said its nasal vaccine candidate failed to reach its primary goal in a phase 1 trial.