by Using moths as “living bioreactors” could allow scientists to develop pandemic vaccines within 100 days of the emergence of a new virus, experts said.
A Spanish biotech company is using the insects, better known for wearing wardrobe classics, in a new vaccine production technique that is reported to be cheaper, simpler and faster than current approaches.
The moths are used in a similar way to chicken eggs, which have been used to make flu shots for the past 80 years. But instead of replicating the vaccine inside fertilized eggs, scientists are using moth chrysalises to grow it.
Not only do the moths produce more vaccine antigens faster, but they can be used to grow a much wider variety than chicken eggs. This may make it easier to set up in lower resource settings.
“It’s cheap, simple and effective,” Dr. José Escribano, founder of biotechnology Algenex, told the Telegraph.
This week the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (Cepi) backed the approach with a £2.5 million grant.
It’s part of the organization’s “100 Day Mission” – a global project that aims to ensure we can respond to the next pandemic by making safe, effective vaccines within 100 days.
The moth technology is already used in several animal vaccines, including a shot for the deadly rabbit hemorrhagic disease.
This approach involves modifying a baculovirus – a pathogen that infects insects but is harmless to humans and animals – with the genetic instructions to produce an antigen of a particular virus.
Robots then inject this modified virus into the moth chrysalis, which can inject 6,000 moth cocoons per hour.
Inside the insect the cells react with the virus, where it replicates at a rapid rate and produces antigens at a much faster rate than bioreactors can.
“After three to five days, you have the maximum protein peak [the antigen],” said Dr. Escribano.
He added that each pupa should produce between five and 10 doses of vaccine, and that one chicken egg is not the same as one flu shot.
The approach is used to create protein-based vaccines, not the mRNA shots developed by firms including BioNTech and Moderna to protect against Covid-19.
Cepi, who described the chrysalis as “living bioreactors”, said this new approach could save critical time and allow more vaccines to be manufactured and distributed quickly in the event of another pandemic.
“With new and emerging infectious diseases a constant threat, the need for rapid access to vaccines is critical to protect vulnerable populations around the world,” said Ingrid Kromann, the organization’s acting executive director for manufacturing and supply chain supply.
The approach is based on precedent. Baculoviruses have long been used in vaccine development because they are harmless to humans; the Novavax Covid shot (approved much later than BioNTech’s Moderna due to mounting issues in the bioreactor) included a bacillus modified to include the Sars-Cov-2 spike protein.
Professor Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said it was a “real and respectable direction” to create a “living bioreactor”.
“[It’s] not as exotic as the moth makes it – any team looking for robust ways to make large batches of protein faithful to a vaccine strategy could compare tissue culture production in human cells, yeast, bacteria, insects,” he said.
Professor Edward Parker, joint director of the Vaccine Center and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “There are a number of adaptations to the chrysalis-based system which aim to simplify and improve current methods, so it will be interesting to see where this leads to.”
A similar approach is already underway elsewhere. Some teams, including scientists at Chulalongkorn university in Bangkok, have used plants instead of insects to replicate the viral components needed for a vaccine.
It is also expected that this type of technology will be used for other conditions; Dr. Escribano said his team is also using the platform to make a survival molecule for stroke patients, while the group in Thailand is trying to use plants to produce snake antivenom.
But others are not so sure whether this technology can actually speed up vaccine development. Professor Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said the approach is not “formally new”, as similar technologies have previously been available by companies but gone out of business.
“Other emerging technologies, particularly the mRNA vaccines, do not require biological manufacture, so the need for rapid protein production disappears,” he said. “Overall, while it’s another technology that may have its niche, it’s unlikely to be a gamechanger of any kind.”
Cepi’s latest grant is meant to be a proof of concept. Algenex will conduct a preclinical study of an influenza vaccine to demonstrate the technology’s ability to be rapidly deployed in a pandemic situation.
“[This funding] it allows us to fully unleash the potential of our platform, enabling the development of the next generation of globally accessible human vaccines,” said Dr. Escribano.
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