The Cuban scientific community is working today on a third vaccine candidate against COVID-19, the first that is not an injectable and would be applied nasal.
Developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), this project focuses on immunization through the nasal route since the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is respiratory and infects through the mucosa of the nasopharynx.
The Director of Biomedical Research of the CIGB, Gerardo Guillén , explained to Prensa Latina that immunization through this route favors the development of a local response, the objective of which is to prevent the disease, colonization and transmission of the pathogen.
Likewise, he explained that the new vaccine candidate is based on a protein from the hepatitis B virus, produced through recombinant genetic engineering in bacteria and yeast in the form of particles, whose properties also enhance the immune system.
This new vaccine against COVID-19 uses, like the two presented by the Finlay Institute of Cuba, the subunit platform, based on specific proteins obtained from biotechnological methods.
“The platform by subunit is, perhaps, the one that takes the longest to provide
a vaccine candidate, but it has the advantage of safety, since it does not
work with a virus or with a complex mixture where there may be
toxic compounds or that generate unexpected effects. in the body,
”Guillén explained.
The CIGB delivered this week the documentation to evaluate said vaccine candidate against COVID-19 , after its analysis was approved by the Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Equipment, the island’s regulatory authority.
Cuba currently has two drugs against COVID-19 in the clinical trial phase (Soberana 01 and Soberana 02) and it is expected that by the end of 2020 the scientific community will register a fourth vaccine candidate against the pandemic.
This was confirmed by the president of the Cuban business group BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, who stressed that the strategy outlined to have
Cuban vaccines against COVID-19 “is going well” and before the end of this year, there will be
four candidates in clinical trials.
“In 2021 our population will be immunized against this virus. Cubans can trust their scientists committed to their homeland, ‘he said.
source: Cubadebate
