TOKYO — VLP Therapeutics Japan has begun a clinical trial of a new coronavirus vaccine that would require a far smaller dosage than those of Pfizer and Moderna, and could dramatically shorten production time, the company said Monday.
The company, a subsidiary of a U.S. drug startup founded by Japanese researchers, has developed the vaccine in partnership with six Japanese research institutes, including Oita University, Hokkaido University and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.
The vaccine is a messenger RNA-type shot, similar to those of Pfizer and Moderna, but it comes with an RNA polymerase that allows faster replication of RNA, the company says. It replicates only a small part of the virus’s spike protein — the spike’s receptor binding domain — meaning that producing it requires less material.
The VLP vaccine, using such ‘replicon’ RNA, would require only one-tenth or one-one hundredth of dosage of conventional messenger RNA vaccines, according to Wataru Akahata, CEO of VLP Therapeutics Japan.
At least two American companies and a Canadian and a British company are also developing COVID vaccines using similar technology.
Wataru Akahata, CEO of VLP Therapeutics Japan, said on Oct. 19 that its vaccine requires only a tenth or a hundredth of the dose needed for conventional mRNA vaccines. (Photo by Rina Mitsutake)
The technology has not been pursued by big drug companies. Vaccines that target only the virus’s receptor binding domain, rather than the entire spike protein, have been less successful at generating an immune response. The replicon RNA is also longer than a standard messenger RNA, and therefore more difficult to produce. VLP Therapeutics Japan has come up with a way to make up for such shortcomings, Akahata says.
VLP has partnered with Fujifilm Toyama Chemical to mass produce the replicon RNA vaccine and aims to make up to 50 million doses a year. The company hopes to begin Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials in the spring and file for approval by the end of 2022.
In Japan, three quarters of the population has already been vaccinated for COVID-19 at least once. VLP envisages that its vaccine would be used for booster shots, as well as for export to countries where vaccines remain in short supply.
Additional reporting by Mitsuru Obe.
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