Researchers at McMaster University have started a Phase 2 clinical trial on a next-generation, inhaled COVID-19 vaccine.  

The AeroVax study, supported by $8 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), will test needle-free vaccines developed to provide protection from SARS-CoV-2.  

 Led by researchers Fiona Smaill and Zhou Xing from the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) at McMaster, the multicentre trial will evaluate the new vaccine in a broad study group, while also confirming safety.  

Findings from pre-clinical studies and soon-to-be-published data from the Phase 1 trial indicate that McMaster’s inhaled vaccine is more effective at inducing immune responses than traditional injected vaccines, because it directly targets the lungs and upper airways, where the virus first enters the body. 

“While the current, needle-based COVID-19 vaccines have prevented a tremendous amount of death and hospitalization, they haven’t really changed a lot of people’s experience with getting recurrent infections,” says Smaill, a professor in the department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine.  

“So we’re looking to change that by providing robust protection directly at the site of infection.”  

The new vaccine is entirely Canadian, from design and biomanufacturing at McMaster’s Robert E. Fitzhenry Vector Laboratory to pre-clinical and clinical testing conducted by a team of Canadian experts, with Canadian participants, at Canadian research sites.  

For the new trial, researchers hope to include 350 participants from across Canada at  clinical trial sites in Hamilton, Ottawa and Halifax. Those eligible for participation must: 

• Have at least three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine 

• Have never received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine 

• Have not had a COVID-19 infection or COVID-19 vaccination within three months prior to enrollment  

• Have no diagnosis of lung disease 

• Be available to attend trial visits in-person 

• Be between 18 and 65 years of age. 

The study is a randomized placebo-controlled trial, and two-thirds of participants will receive the vaccine, while the other third will receive a placebo, Smaill says.  

Participants won’t know which group they belong to, but both groups are equally integral to the study.  

“Clinical trials, like this one, are the only way to firmly establish the efficacy and safety of novel health products,” Smaill says.  

The randomization allows for objective comparison between those who received the vaccine and those who didn’t. In turn, that tells researchers about the level of protection the vaccine could provide, as well as its its side effects. 

“Every medicine or vaccine that we use and trust today has at one point gone through similar clinical trials processes,” says Matthew Miller, director of IIDR and Global Nexus at McMaster, and part of the trial study team.  

“This is a highly regulated process with extensive oversight that ensures the safety of participants and will generate critical data to inform the next steps in development.”  

Following the study, researchers will move the vaccine into phase-3 clinical trials which will test efficacy in a larger population group and ultimately position the vaccine for market approval.  

Click here for more information on the vaccine or how to to enrol in the study.