Vaccines date back all the to 1796, with Dr. Edward Jenner being the first person to create a vaccine for smallpox by inoculating an 8-year-old with matter collected from a smallpox sore. Ever since that fateful day, vaccines have made strides of advancement in terms of production and the type of vaccine used.
In terms of production, moving from live or attenuated vaccines to DNA/mRNA vaccines have been helpful as it is easier to make the latter. Adding to that point, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have proven the efficacy of nucleic acid-based therapy in preventing and reducing the severity of an infection.
However, the production of such vaccines in immense quantities will prove to be challenging, or will it?
The go-to method to create DNA of interest is usually through cultivation of bacteria in a stainless-steel fermenter. After that, a purification process is required to eliminate the impurities, which all takes time and specific equipement that is expensive.
Touchlight, a UK based private company which is operational since 2007, is the company responsible for the developed of this new method.
The dBDNA has undeniable benefits compared to other methods of production. The standard in vaccine production used to be plasmid based. With the old technique, from optimization to pDNA release, it would take about 270 days, while with dBDNA it takes less than 50 days. In addition, the process of dBDNA by comparison to pDNA is more cost effective, and requires simple equipment, which makes it scale much easier when faced with heavy demand.
Horton explained how producing vast amounts of DNA from new virus variants within days can help boost preparedness for the next pandemic when it arises.
Furthermore, this method of production has an added benefit of safety. With plasmid production, the end product usually contains extra sequences from the bacteria used that are either unnecessary or even damaging to the patient receiving it. dbDNA does not have this problem, hence less risk of immunogenicity.
“Since the pandemic, we have seen an explosion of interest in nucleic acid medicine, with a wide variety of ways to deploy both mRNA and DNA-based therapies. We expect this to continue as investment continues to grow in nucleic acid delivery and sequence design. DNA vaccines, specifically, have for the first time been validated in large clinical studies (as a prophylactic vaccine for Covid-19), but also early clinical data continue to emerge in the use of DNA as a therapeutic cancer vaccine. These data will drive further proliferation of DNA vaccine technologies.”Helen Horton, Chief Research Officer, Touchlight
Vaccine for Cancer
dBDNA seems to have also lent its hand to cancer research. Cancer Research UK and Touchlight paired up to advance its DNA vaccine against head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
“The vaccine encodes two cancer antigens found in more than 95% of head and neck cancers that are not human papillomavirus-driven, as well as at high rates in non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors,” Horton explained.
Whether dbDNA and Touchlight will continue to thrive and advance in the world of vaccine remains to be seen, for it is still a small company when compared to the competition when it comes to vaccine manufacturing. However the technology the company has created has definitely garnered attention from the mega corporation, with Pfizer buying the right to use dbDNA during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the potential of this company can be seen on the horizon.
Follow the Author on MedBound: Majd Kamal Fawaz (@MajdFawaz)
References
https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/a-brief-history-of-vaccination
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