A ferritin-based COVID-19 nanoparticle vaccine that elicits robust, durable, broad-spectrum neutralizing antisera in non-human primates

While the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has been a scientific triumph, the need remains for a globally available vaccine that provides longer-lasting immunity against present and future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs). Here, we describe DCFHP, a ferritin-based, protein-nanoparticle vaccine candidate that, when formulated with aluminum hydroxide as the sole adjuvant (DCFHP-alum), elicits potent and durable neutralizing antisera in non-human primates against known VOCs, including Omicron B.Q.1, as well as against SARS-CoV-1. Following a booster one year after the initial immunization, DCFHP-alum elicits a robust anamnestic response. To enable global accessibility, we generated a cell line that can enable production of thousands of vaccine doses per liter of cell culture and show that DCFHP-alum maintains potency for at least 14 days at temperatures exceeding standard room temperature. DCFHP-alum has potential as a once-yearly (or less frequent) booster vaccine, and as a primary vaccine for pediatric use including in infants.

Payton A.-B. Weidenbacher, Mrinmoy Sanyal, Natalia Friedland, Shaogen Tang, Prabhu S. Arunchalam, Mengyun Hu, Ozan S. Kumru, Mary Kate Morris, Jane Fontenot, Lisa Shirreff, Jonathan Do, Ya-Chen Cheng, Gayathri Vasudevan, Mark B. Feinberg, Francois J. Villinger, Carl Hanson, Sangeeta B. Joshi, David B. Volkin, Bali Pulendran, Peter S. Kim