About Our NanoVax® Platform

BlueWillow’s NanoVax® adjuvant and antigen delivery platform is the best-in-class solution for intranasal vaccine development, with human safety established from numerous clinical trials and preclinical studies. The NanoVax® platform, originally invented at the University of Michigan, creates vaccines that elicit a three-pronged mucosal, cellular, and systemic immune responses needed for robust protection against a range of infectious diseases and food allergies.

The NanoVax® platform’s strong safety profile is a result of utilizing oil-in-water emulsion 400nm droplets with a cationic surfactant and stabilization buffer. The droplets enable permeation of the nasal mucosa but prohibit crossing of the blood brain barrier. Compatible with a wide array of antigens and with inherent antiviral action, the technology efficiently delivers antigens directly to antigen-presenting cells for uptake, processing, and carriage to both regional and systemic immune sites.

The platform elicits a Th1 (non-inflammatory) immune response biased over Th2 (inflammatory), which is ideal for protection against mucosal respiratory and sexually transmitted pathogens. T-cell and B-cell homing to the mucosa is triggered for durable cell-mediated immune memory and elicits IgG and IgA immune responses.

The limitations of non-adjuvanted approaches to intranasal vaccination are well-known. There now exists an adjuvant that can be used safely in humans to enable the long sought-after next generation of vaccines.

Intranasal Adjuvanted Vaccine Development

There are many obvious advantages of delivering vaccines via a simple nasal spray vs. an injection through the skin:

  • Needle-free vaccine delivery overcomes a significant portion of vaccine reluctance amongst the public enabling increased vaccine adoption critical during pandemic or endemic outbreaks.
  • Ease of administration leads to wider vaccine availability as specialized training for delivery is not required. Self-administration of vaccines becomes feasible.
  • Supply chain costs are reduced addressing barriers to vaccine in low- and middle- income countries and regions.
  • Multi-dose vials are achievable further facilitating widespread vaccine delivery.
  • Intranasal vaccination leads to a mucosal, cell-mediated and systemic immune response that more directly mimics immunity gained from natural infection.

How Do Intranasal NanoVax® Vaccines Work?

Our best-in-class NanoVax® adjuvanted vaccines are applied intranasally via a simple spray device. As shown in the figure below, the adjuvant efficiently delivers antigens to local dendritic cells.  The dendritic cells take-up and deliver the antigen(s) to regional lymph nodes initiating the immune response.  This path of vaccination results in potent mucosal, systemic and cell-mediated immunity.

diagram explaining NanoBio's technology platform

Human Clinical Evidence

BlueWillow’s intranasal platform has demonstrated safety in humans in two completed clinical trials with one trial ongoing. This platform technology overcomes the safety hurdle that slowed intranasal vaccine development for many years as the oil-in-water droplet size and other characteristics preclude CNS penetration.

The emulsion technology is comprised of simple components including water, a natural oil, and a cationic surfactant safely used for decades in products such as mouthwash. The unique formulation approach isolates antigens within the emulsion until they are efficiently delivered to APCs (antigen-presenting-cells) for immune system processing. It’s an elegantly simple approach enabling safe and effective intranasal vaccination.