MediciNova Inc (MNOV)

[Raffis]

To see whether mice develop an illness similar to the one in people, the researchers infected mice with the modified adenovirus, and then five days later gave them the COVID-19 virus through the nose. The virus quickly spread along the respiratory tract and especially to the lungs, where it replicated to high numbers and caused pneumonia with marked inflammation, much as it does in people. The researchers also found lower levels of virus in the heart, spleen and brain—all organs that can be targets of the virus in people. The mice lost 10% to 25% of their body weight during their illnesses but ultimately recovered.

"The mice develop a similar lung disease to what we see in humans," said Diamond, who is also a professor of molecular microbiology, and of pathology and immunology. "They get quite sick for a while but eventually recover, like the vast majority of people who get COVID-19. You can use this technique with almost any strain of laboratory mouse to make them susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and then do whatever kind of study you want: test vaccines or drugs, study the immune response, and many other things related to how the virus causes disease."
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-covid-mouse-drugs-vaccines.html

A mouse model study was conducted to assess systemic IgG and mucosal IgA antibody production against S1 Ag after intranasal vaccination with MediciNova’s BC-PIV SARS-CoV-2 vaccine prototype. We confirmed a high IgA antibody titer against S1 Ag in the nasal lavage fluid from mice given intranasal BC-PIV SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We also confirmed that a high IgG antibody titer against S1 Ag was induced in mice serum.

Yuichi Iwaki, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MediciNova, Inc., commented, "We are very encouraged that our intranasal BC-PIV SARS-CoV-2 vaccine induced high titers of systemic serum IgG and mucosal IgA neutralizing antibodies in a mouse model study. These successful results support the scientific and technical rationale of our intranasal vaccine in addition to similar success with BioComo’s BC-PIV RSV vaccine prototype. We look forward to reporting additional progress on our intranasal COVID-19 vaccine in the near future.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/medicinova-announces-intranasal-covid-19-103000673.html