The South Korea-based International Vaccine Institute- IVI has gone ahead with the clinical manufacturing of DuoChol, a new low-cost oral vaccine for cholera in capsule form. The development has received funding support from the Wellcome Trust as well as the Swedish government, and the IVI is on the verge of conducting the first phase of the trial in Sweden.
DuoChol developed by University of Gothenburg researchers is a dry formulation of inactivated bacterial and a whole cell or cholera toxin B subunit OCV, which have a similar composition as the first in the world, WHO-prequalified OCV named DUKORAL.
Although DUKORAL and the presently available low-cost OCVs Shanchol and Euvichol-Plus, which are pre-qualified by WHO and developed by IVI, happen to be drinkable vaccines, what sets DuoChol on a different spectrum is that it is a dry formulation in capsule form. Because of this, the vaccine’s thermostability, i.e., the stability of the active ingredients, is there, and that too at a relatively higher temperature for longer durations, with both the weight and the volume reduced.
It is well to be noted that IVI is conducting this study in collaboration with one of the biopharmaceutical companies that is spun-off from the University of Gothenburg plus a Swedish subsidiary of specialty vaccine firm zeroed upon as the contract manufacturing organisation. Notably, DuoChol will be manufactured by the Swedish firm as per good manufacturing practises for pre-clinical toxicity testing as well as the Phase 1 trial.
