La Paz Initiates Development of COVID-19 Vaccine Patch Using Mycobacteria

Application for Global Health Technology Research Fund Technology Acceleration Project
Development of COVID-19 Infection Prevention Vaccine Applying Mpg Tuberculosis Prevention Function and Effect

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Lapas announced on the 9th that it has applied for a technology acceleration project funded by the Global Health Technology Fund, jointly invested by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to develop a novel tuberculosis vaccine patch using Mpg, a new drug ingredient that replaces the tuberculosis prevention vaccine (BCG).

Mpg is a novel non-tuberculous mycobacteria strain first isolated and identified last year by Professor Beomjun Kim’s team at the Department of Microbiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine. Lapas has licensed the technology from Seoul National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and is developing it as a tuberculosis vaccine patch to replace BCG.

Through application to model animals, Lapas confirmed that Mpg’s tuberculosis prevention effect, including antibody formation ability, is superior to the existing BCG vaccine. Currently, commercial culture conditions for regulatory preclinical trials have been established, and clinical trials on animals are planned to be expanded and conducted within this year. Lapas introduced that the goal of this project is to develop a therapeutic vaccine, including demonstrating the animal efficacy of the Mpg tuberculosis vaccine.

The BCG vaccine has been widely used as a tuberculosis vaccine for nearly 100 years, but its vaccination effect significantly decreases with age, so it is mainly administered during the neonatal period. In newborns with weak immunity, side effects such as BCGosis of lymph nodes can occur. The BCG vaccine has almost no preventive effect on adult tuberculosis, and tuberculosis treatment requires simultaneous intake of 5 to 7 types of antibiotics for at least six months, making the treatment process difficult and creating an urgent need for therapeutic vaccine development.

A Lapas official said, "The core ingredient of the novel vaccine under development, Mpg, grows at 30 degrees Celsius but no longer grows at the human body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius," adding, "Unlike BCG, it is a non-tuberculous mycobacterium, so it is expected to safely provide tuberculosis prevention effects without concerns about side effects."

He also emphasized, "The vaccine under development by Lapas is a patch type applied to the skin using Lapas’s soluble microarray technology," adding, "It gradually delivers the drug to the dermis layer of the skin, which is rich in immune cells, allowing the same antibody production effect with a smaller amount than injections."

The tuberculosis vaccine has recently attracted attention as it is known to help reduce the infection rate of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Lapas is developing a COVID-19 preventive vaccine following the novel tuberculosis vaccine.

Mpg was originally developed as a tuberculosis vaccine but is also gaining attention for its immune-enhancing efficacy. The team led by Professor Beomjun Kim at Seoul National University, who first isolated and identified Mpg, published research results in Nature Research Science Reports showing that immune induction against HIV is possible through follow-up studies. It was confirmed that Mpg is not only effective for tuberculosis prevention, its original development purpose, but also efficient in immune induction and helpful in combating respiratory diseases.

Recently, research results from the New York Institute of Technology (NIC) showing that the antiviral immune effect caused by BCG tuberculosis vaccination significantly contributes to lowering COVID-19 mortality rates have drawn attention.

Jung Dohyun, CEO of Lapas, stated, "We will develop a vaccine that can prevent COVID-19 infection by using a recombinant Mpg (rMpg-S) strain expressing the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, which provides the boosting function necessary for tuberculosis prevention and serves as a carrier."