Researchers in Alabama will collaborate with a Maryland-based company in developing a potential COVID-19 vaccine by testing its effectiveness in mice.

The biopharmaceutical company, Altimmune, is developing a nasal spray vaccine called AdCOVID. The company moved to Maryland several years ago, but started in Birmingham as a spinoff of UAB.

Several companies are trying to develop COVID-19 vaccines, but Altimmune is the only one proposing an intranasal spray. Scot Roberts, chief scientific officer for Altimmune, said that type has several advantages over shots. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated and can be administered by almost anybody.

“It turns out that the intranasal route of delivery is very important,” Roberts said. “It establish a special type of immunity called mucosal immunity, which provides the immunity right at the point of infection.”

The single dose spray is designed to build immunity to the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe. The United States now has more diagnosed cases of COVID-19 than any other country, more than 140,000 according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

The research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will test how immune systems in mice react to the vaccine. If the vaccine proves effective, safety trials for humans could be launched in late summer.

The vaccine is based on similar sprays Altimmune is developing for anthrax and influenza. Both of those have passed the first two phases of study.

“There are going to be lots of different companies coming up with vaccines to try, and that’s good because it’s actually hard to get a good vaccine,” said Frances E. Lund, chair of the microbiology department at UAB. “Because they’ve already been through safety trials with this technology, they’ve actually got kind of a jump up on other vaccines."

Vaccines must go through three stages of clinical trials before they hit the market. The first studies focus on safety, followed by trials to determine the correct dose and more to test effectiveness in humans. The process usually takes at least 18 months, but Altimmune president and CEO Vivan Garg said his company’s product is on a fast track that could take as little as 12 months, if it proves effective.

Researchers around the world have been racing to create a vaccine for COVID-19. Experts estimate the fatality rate for the virus could be ten times higher than the seasonal flu. It’s especially dangerous for elderly patients and those with underlying health conditions.

Roberts said the studies at UAB will try to determine what kind of immune response happens when mice are given the vaccine. It’s a key step to show the vaccine works in animals before moving to human studies.

The results of the mice studies will help advance the vaccine to human trials. Six labs will work together on the project. Lund estimated it could take three to four months to get results from the animal studies, but she said preliminary results could be available earlier.

“The group at UAB is a collaboration of a several labs that specialize in different things,” Lund said. “That’s good because work like this needs a large group of people doing different things.”