Novavax and Medicago COVID Vaccines Coming Soon: Shot

Vials of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine are ready for use in a study in London in 2020. Novavax’s vaccine candidates include a non-infectious portion of the virus (peplomer), with the addition of a substance called an adjuvant that helps the body generate a strong immune response. ..

Alastair Grant / AP

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Alastair Grant / AP

Vials of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine are ready for use in a study in London in 2020. Novavax’s vaccine candidates include a non-infectious portion of the virus (peplomer), with the addition of a substance called an adjuvant that helps the body generate a strong immune response. ..

Alastair Grant / AP

A new type of COVID-19 vaccine may be available this summer as well.

Is what is known as Protein subunit vaccineThis is slightly different from the current vaccines approved for use in the United States, but it is based on well-understood technology and does not require special refrigeration.

In general, vaccines work by showing people’s immune system what it looks like but isn’t. Think of it as an advance warning. When a real virus occurs, the immune system is ready to try to suppress it.

In the case of coronavirus, “something” is the spike protein, which is one of the viral proteins.

Vaccines produced by Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer contain genetic instructions for speplomer, and it is up to the cells of our body to make the protein itself.

The first protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine to be available will probably be provided by a biotechnology company. Nova BucksIn contrast to the three vaccines already approved in the United States, this vaccine contains the peplomer itself (it does not need to be made, it has already been made) and further protects the vaccine Therefore, it contains an adjuvant that enhances the response of the immune system.

Protein subunit vaccine Those made this way have been around for some time. Vaccines for hepatitis B and whooping cough based on this technology are on the market.

A large-scale test of the efficacy of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine was conducted on tens of thousands of volunteers. The United States and Mexico will be closed soon. Dr. Gregory Glen“We plan to apply for approval in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe in the third quarter,” Novavax’s president of R & D told the audience at a recent webinar hosted by the International Society for Vaccines.

Turn plants into factories

Novavax uses giant cells cultured in the laboratory to make viral proteins. But there are other ways to make protein. It’s about putting plants in a greenhouse.

This is the approach used by Canadian biotechnology companies. Medicago..

The plants used are Related to the tobacco factory, And have been modified to include genetic instructions for making viral proteins.

Plants are doing something very valuable — they form a lipid shell that surrounds a bundle of viral proteins, with the proteins sticking out.

“Plants assemble proteins into a virus-like shape,” he said. Natalie Laundry, Executive Vice President of Science and Medical Affairs at Medicago. “So, when you look at that image, Appearance It is the same as a virus, but it does not induce any disease.But when [it’s] When injected as a vaccine, the body has a good immune response. “

Early studies suggest that Medicago’s candidate vaccines do just that, and the company is confident enough to discover these, and a large study of 30,000 volunteers in 11 countries. Has already started.

Landry acknowledges that the development of the Medicago COVID-19 vaccine lags behind others.

“We are late, but we are coming,” she says.

Another latecomer to come is Sanofi, a major pharmaceutical company. Protein subunit vaccines against coronavirus are also cultured intracellularly in the laboratory.

At the end of last year, the company was preparing to launch a large study of vaccine efficacy, but early results in a small number of people did not appear to induce a protective immune response. Was shown.

“Immunogenicity wasn’t as good as it should be, especially in the elderly in the study,” he said. Dr. Paul Goupfert He was one of the researchers involved in his early research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He says the problem turned out to be an incorrect calculation of the dose of vaccine delivered.

“That’s why we were actually taking 1 microgram instead of 10 micrograms,” says Goepfert.

Sanofi fixed the problem and repeated early studies with good results. The company is currently enrolling volunteers in a large-scale efficacy study.

It would be good if all these vaccines were delivered to consumers, Gepfert said. However, that alone cannot solve the problem of immunizing people.

why? “The vaccine we have now is far beyond our thinking,” he says. “And I now live in a state of frustration with how slow the vaccine is taken.”

Goepfert lives in Alabama.by Latest number Only Mississippi has a low per capita vaccination rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.