Advanced Vaccine Delivery to the Gut

CHAIN Biotechnology, a Nottingham-based biotech company has developed a way to deliver
therapeutics including vaccines to the colon by genetic engineering a harmless microbe
called Clostridium butyricum – referred to as the CADD platform. CHAIN has engineered the
bacterium to produce antigenic peptides. The bacteria are delivered orally, in a spore-form,
and travel intact through the stomach and small intestine until they reach the colon where
they germinate. The bacterial cells then grow and produce the antigens necessary to trigger
an immune response via the gut mucosa.

The goal of this project is to test whether the CADD system can be used to develop oral
vaccine candidates for human rotavirus and cholera. If successful, the results will be used to
fast-track the development of a novel oral vaccines for clinical testing with the longer-term
potential to treat childhood diarrhoeal disease and transform the lives of millions across the
world, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

We have recently started work on an oral COVID vaccine. Building on developments in this
project, we plan to include development of a COVID vaccine as part of the project scope.
Given the pressing need of developing COVID booster vaccines and covering emerging
variants of concern, our oral vaccine is therefore extremely timely given the need to
maintain immunity in a vaccinated population. It is also a robust and low-cost solution
making it ideally suited to global distribution without significant burdens on healthcare
systems or personnel.