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Lassa fever remains the most imported viral haemorrhagic fever in Europe and is responsible for 5000 deaths per year throughout Western Africa. There is no vaccine and treatment is often ineffective. We have developed a vaccine based on modified Vaccinia Ankara expressing the nucleoprotein from Lassa virus (MVALassaNP). This study investigated the immunogenicity (in mice) and efficacy (in guinea pigs) of the MVALassaNP vaccine as a prime/boost or single vaccination regime. ELISA and ELISpot assays confirmed humoral and T-cell immunity following both a prime and prime/boost vaccination, with the prime/boost regime producing a statistically increased response compared to a prime only vaccine (P

BACKGROUND: The novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is a major ongoing global threat with huge economic burden. Like all respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 initiates infection in the upper respiratory tract (URT). Infected individuals are often asymptomatic, yet highly infectious and readily transmit virus. A therapy that restricts initial replication in the URT has the potential to prevent progression of severe lower respiratory tract disease as well as limiting person-to-person transmission. METHODS: SARS-CoV-2 Victoria/01/2020 was passaged in Vero/hSLAM cells and virus titre determined by plaque assay. Challenge virus was delivered by intranasal instillation to female ferrets at 5.0 × 106 pfu/ml. Treatment groups received intranasal INNA-051, developed by Ena Respiratory. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected using the 2019-nCoV CDC RUO Kit and QuantStudio™ 7 Flex Real-Time PCR System. Histopathological analysis was performed using cut tissues stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). FINDINGS: We show that prophylactic intra-nasal administration of the TLR2/6 agonist INNA-051 in a SARS-CoV-2 ferret infection model effectively reduces levels of viral RNA in the nose and throat. After 5 days post-exposure to SARS-CoV-2, INNA-051 significantly reduced virus in throat swabs (p=