Clinical trials have begun on a vaccine developed in Canada
It has an advantage over already approved drugs.
Thursday, April 15 marked a significant milestone for Canada in the pandemic. Entos Pharmaceuticals, based in Edmonton, Alberta, and led by John Lewis, a researcher at the University of Alberta, began a Phase 1 clinical trial of its vaccine against COVID-19. The first doses of the Covigenix VAX-001 vaccine were administered at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The vaccine is based on nucleic acids (DNA vaccine). Once in the body, it produces a pathogenic protein, triggering an immune response. Many of the vaccines already approved worldwide use RNA molecules. They have the disadvantage of strict storage conditions.
John Lewis noted that the Covigenix VAX-001 vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator for more than a year and at room temperature for more than a month.
"We need 16 billion doses worldwide to beat the pandemic, and we think DNA vaccines are the perfect way to get closer to the result," he said.
According to preclinical trials, Entos Pharmaceuticals' vaccine can provide a high degree of protection against COVID-19 and its new strains. A single dose is also expected to be sufficient, but this remains to be confirmed in further studies.
The Vaccine Centre will conduct trials in 72 adults aged 18 to 55 years and 65 to 84 years. Entos Pharmaceuticals expects to get the first safety results within two months and be able to move on to a second, larger phase of clinical trials.
It is hoped that the vaccine will be approved by Health Canada in the future.
Covigenix VAX-001 is not the first Canadian vaccine to move into the clinical trial phase. On January 26 this year, a vaccine from Toronto-based Providence Therapeutics began testing.
