Pre-clinical trials of an intranasal version of the Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus have been completed, developers are preparing for clinical trials, Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology that developed the vaccine said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper published on Wednesday.

Pre-clinical [trials] have now been completely concluded. We need to launch clinical [trials]. We wanted to conduct this as one of the stages of the already existing vaccine, skipping a number of stages but this wasn’t approved. And all the trials need to follow the full program – with Phases One, Two and Three of clinical trials. This costs about 400 mln rubles (over $5 mln – TASS),” the developer said.

He added that the intranasal vaccine “is the same Sputnik V, the second component which we spray into the nasal cavity using a special syringe with a special nozzle.”

The researcher expects that the trials will be financed by Moscow authorities since “Moscow has already invested in the trials of a vaccine for children and in a number of projects on monitoring the vaccine’s efficacy against various strains and in other projects,” the newspaper notes.

As reported earlier, the intranasal form of the Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus will consist of two components. The vaccine helps to develop a local immunity, therefore it will be most likely recommended to those who have contraindications to injections.