Golden, Colorado-based PharmaJet’s needle-free injection systems are being studied with Covigen, a DNA-based vaccine developed by French-Thai pharmaceutical company BioNet-Asia in collaboration with Melbourne, Australia-based Technovalia. Enrollment for the trial began in June 2021.
The Phase 1 trial for the needle-free SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine in Australia had the purpose of assessing the safety and immunogenicity of two Covigen doses given one month apart to healthy volunteers aged 18 to 17 years old who had not yet received a COVID-19 vaccination. Interim results showed that Covigen was well-tolerated with no observed safety concerns, according to a news release.
Laurent Dapremont, CEO of Technovalia, said that Covigen represents the first plasmid-DNA vaccine to be tested in Australia, with a study group also set to assess Covigen as a booster dose on healthy subjects that are fully vaccinated.
“We welcome this positive news and are proud to be part of the Covigen vaccine development with Technovalia, BioNet, and their Australian partners,” PharmaJet President and CEO Chris Cappello said. “These results are consistent with data from other DNA and RNA based vaccines administered using the PharmaJet needle-free injection systems (NFIS). The PharmaJet NFIS is being used as the method of delivery on 20+ COVID vaccine development programs including the world’s first plasmid-based DNA vaccine recently receiving Emergency Use Authorization for COVID in India.”
