RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A new vaccine against Covid-19 is being developed by a team of scientists in Israel, who claim to be able to produce an active component for the drug “in the coming days”.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, the head of the team, Dr. Chen Katz, said he intends to start testing on humans on June 1st.
“We are now in its final stages and within a few days we will have the proteins – the vaccine’s active components,” the leader of the biotechnology team at the Galilee Research Institute (MIGAL) said.
The breakthrough comes four years after the team began developing a vaccine for the Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) in chickens, which is common in this species and also found in pheasants. The drug being developed for the new coronavirus would be an adaptation of this first research.
“Our basic concept was to develop a general technology and not a specific vaccine for this or that type of virus,” said Katz, who also explained the genetic adjustments that allowed the substance to be adapted for human use: “The vaccine’s scientific structure is based on a new vector of protein expression, which forms and secretes a soluble chimeric protein, delivering the viral antigen into the mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis, causing the body to form antibodies against the virus”.
The research was funded by the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology. On February 27th, Minister Ofir Akunes had already announced all the required approvals to expedite the process of vaccine completion and marketing. Also according to Dr. Katz, the oral substance of the drug has proven to induce high levels of specific antibodies against IBV.
The multidisciplinary research also found that the virus in chickens bears great genetic resemblance to the covid-19 form of coronavirus that affects humans, sharing the same infection mechanism.
“Our goal is to produce the vaccine within the next eight to ten weeks to achieve safety approval within 90 days. This vaccine will be oral, making it particularly accessible to the general public,” said David Zigdon, president of MIGAL.