Virus World

What if you could get one vaccine that protects you against a wide spectrum of viruses, even viruses we haven’t discovered yet? That might sound impossible and futuristic, but this is just what Immunovative Therapies and its sister company Mirror Biologics, Inc. are aiming to achieve. Their new ‘pan-viral’ vaccine called “AlloPrime®” is slated to begin a Phase I/II trial next month. “Our pan-viral vaccine harnesses the same protection mechanism that naturally protects us from viral diseases – a healthy immune system,” Michael Har-Noy, MD, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Immunovative Therapies, told BioSpace. “By remodeling the elderly immune system with a vaccine, we can arm the system to rapidly respond to a viral encounter in the same manner that a young immune system responds to a novel viral encounter.” Just as our body slows down with age, so does our immune system. AlloPrime® focuses on remodeling the weakened older immune system by a mechanism known as “heterologous immunity.” Heterologous immunity occurs when the immune response to one pathogen causes an enhanced response to a later unrelated pathogen. This means that the immune response against the AlloPrime® vaccine can influence the response to a virus (like the coronavirus that causes COVID-19).

 

I’m sure the timeliness of strengthening the elderly immune system isn’t lost on you – COVID-19 heavily impacts older adults. In fact, 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been in people 65 years and older. “As the majority of younger individuals exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, protecting the vulnerable elderly population would enable opening of the economy and building of herd immunity without an increase in hospitalizations and deaths,” commented Dr. Har-Noy. Older adults usually have a weaker response to vaccines, so even if an effective COVID-19 vaccine is created, it could be less protective in older adults, the population that needs protection the most. That’s what is unique about this pan-viral vaccine – it focuses specifically on modulating the elderly immune system. AlloPrime® could be given as an immune modulator to the elderly on its own or it could be administered as an adjuvant with other vaccines to boost their effectiveness.