ConserV Bioscience has been awarded £415,000 ($556,000) by UK Aid funding to drive development of a coronavirus vaccine immune to variants, UNICOR-v.

The firm claims UNICOR-v could possibly protect people against future epidemics caused by a coronavirus spreading from animals to human, as well as new variants that could emerge from SARS-Cov-2 without needing a frequent booster.

UNICOR-v consists of twelve antigens from conserved regions, which includes clusters of reactive T-cell epitopes for various human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). It aims to protect individuals against all types of coronaviruses, from alpha, beta, gamma genera, and delta.

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“The grant will be used to fund manufacture of mRNA and synthetic peptides, translations studies and immunogenicity studies and efficacy studies all in pre-clinical models,” a spokesperson for ConserV told BioProcess Insider.

Protection against all variants

The firm said UNICOR-v differs from other COVID-19 vaccines that target the spike protein as it targets “conserved regions of internal viral proteins that have not mutated across the full history of each general or subtype of coronavirus. As such, we aim to provide protection against new variants (since these antigens do not mutate) and against new jumps from animal to humans (we include animal strains in our approach). The mRNA will be encased in a RALA peptide rather than a lipid nanoparticle (LNP). The RALA carrier allows us to target intradermal delivery and potentially enhanced dendritic cell take up of the mRNA.”

ConserV will compare four different formulations and preclinical immunogenicity and safety of the vaccine candidates will be assessed. The results will be used to provide the necessary evidence to enter clinical trials.

This grant is one of twenty-two projects funded by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN), a UK Aid program to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries.