Development of an inactivated vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2.

Qiang Gao Linlin Bao Haiyan Mao Lin Wang Kangwei Xu Minnan Yang Yajing Li Ling Zhu Nan Wang Zhe Lv Hong Gao Xiaoqin Ge Biao Kan Yaling Hu Jiangning Liu Deyu Jiang Cheng-Feng Qin Jing Li Xuejie Gong Xiuyu Lou Wen Shi Dongdong Wu Hengming Zhang Lang Zhu Wei Deng Yurong Li Jinxing Lu Changgui Li Xiangxi Wang Weidong Yin Yan Jun Zhang Chuan Qin

Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2020)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in an unprecedented public health crisis. Because of the novelty of the virus, there are currently no SARS-CoV-2-specific treatments or vaccines available. Therefore, rapid development of effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are urgently needed. Here, we developed a pilot-scale production of PiCoVacc, a purified inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine candidate, which induced SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies in mice, rats, and nonhuman primates. These antibodies neutralized 10 representative SARS-CoV-2 strains, suggesting a possible broader neutralizing ability against other strains. Three immunizations using two different doses, 3 or 6 micrograms per dose, provided partial or complete protection in macaques against SARS-CoV-2 challenge, respectively, without observable antibody-dependent enhancement of infection. These data support the clinical development and testing of PiCoVacc for use in humans.

Keyphrases