Covid vaccine tech brings hope for other illnesses
A company founded by the Oxford University scientists who spearheaded the Covid-19 vaccine is now aiming the same technology at fighting cancer and preventing a host of other diseases.
The team, at the Nasdaq-listed spin-off company Vaccitech, are working on shots to treat diseases including several cancers and hepatitis B, as well as to prevent shingles and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers).
They are using the same technology for their new vaccines as is deployed in the Oxford UniversityAstraZeneca-coronavirus jab.
It is called ChAdOx, after the chimpanzee adenovirus vector which delivers the active ingredient of the vaccine into the body, stimulating a response from the immune system.
Alongside Vaccitech, other scientists are also using the ChAdOx technology to develop vaccines for at least 11 other diseases, from malaria to the plague.
In recent weeks, researchers have posted promising early results for jabs using ChAdOx to tackle chikungunya virus as well as Nipah virus, which has known pandemic potential.
Tom Evans, chief scientific officer at Vaccitech, said: “Now that it [ChAdOx] is proven, it’s just a matter of establishing where you want to go with it, and how many things you do.”
Scientists have believed for several decades that adenovirus vector platforms would work as a new route for delivering vaccines.
The creation of the coronavirus vaccine, which involved the OxfordAstraZeneca jab being developed, tested and manufactured at record speed, raised hopes of other breakthroughs.
These breakthroughs could also make the team at Vaccitech, its backers, and its founders — Oxford professors Dame Sarah Gilbert and Adrian Hill — rich, as the company retains the rights to the ChAdOx platform for the diseases it is working on.
Scientists say that ChAdOx is so promising for a host of diseases because of how it is designed. Like the mRNA vaccines, it is “plug and play” — the backbone of the vaccine, the chimp virus delivery method, remains the same, while the detail of the disease it is showing the immune system can be altered.