Canadian vaccine shows good results in trials
When will it get to the Ministry of Health for review?
The vaccine, developed by Canadian company Medicago, has completed phase two trials involving hundreds of volunteers.
Natalie Landry, Medicago's executive vice president of scientific and medical affairs, said their vaccine forms 10 times more antibodies than observed in people who have had COVID-19.
"Based on these results, we are confident that we will be able to demonstrate the high efficacy of our vaccine," Landry said.
The Medicago vaccine has already begun phase III trials involving 30,000 volunteers in Canada, the US and the UK, with testing starting in Brazil this week.
The third phase is the final phase. After that, the Ministry of Health can decide whether to approve the vaccine. Landry hopes this will happen as early as the summer. If approved, Medicago will become the first approved vaccine to be produced in Canada — even though the raw material will be sourced from a plant in North Carolina, USA, because the plant in Quebec is still under construction.
According to Landry, the vaccine could be ready for mass use by 2023.
