Wataru Akahata, CEO of VLP Therapeutics Japan LLC, thinks he can help provide a solution to the challenge of securing COVID-19 vaccines for billions of people — the development of a second-generation messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine that requires only a fraction of the dosage of those currently available.

The biotech startup will file an application for a clinical trial in June, with the initial stage, which involves dozens of volunteers at the Oita University Hospital in Kyushu and is used to evaluate safety, expected to start in the summer. Unlike the mRNA vaccines made by U.S.-based Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., VLP’s proprietary “replicon” RNA in the vaccine will self-amplify inside the body before producing antigen proteins, which would induce immune responses against the coronavirus.

The key benefit of self-replicating vaccines is their efficiency, because they would require only a fraction of the dosage of conventional vaccines to trigger a strong immune response. Scientists have calculated that self-replicating mRNA vaccines would require as little as 1 to 10 micrograms to induce an effective immune response. Compared with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that have so far been commercialized, the dosage would in theory be a tenth or less. If it’s proven efficacious and safe, as little as 126 grams would be needed to vaccinate all of Japan's 126 million residents, according to VLP’s calculations.