The US drug company, Innovio, which produces immune drugs, said on Wednesday that its experimental vaccine to prevent coronavirus infection had proven to produce protective antibodies and immune system responses in mice.
"We have found responses to antibodies that do many of the tasks we want to have in the vaccine in its final form," said David Weiner, director of the Westar Vaccine and Immunology Center, which collaborates with Innovio. "We are able to target the elements that prevent the virus from obtaining a safe haven within the body."
There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for the treatment of Covid-19 disease caused by the emergence of the Coronavirus. Experts predict that it can take 12 to 18 months to produce a safe and effective vaccine.
Innovio, which began testing its human vaccine in April, said preliminary results of these trials are expected in June. Forty healthy subjects were given two doses of the vaccine called Eno-4800, one dose every four weeks, and then placed under observation for two weeks.
"We are already following safety data and it has been verified," Catherine Broderick, director of research and development at Innovio, told Reuters. Once the initial data is entered, Enofeo expects to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization to proceed to the second and third stage trials, which can be conducted in July or August, she added.
Innovio said that the latest results from the animal study, which was published in the Journal of Nature Communications, demonstrates the effectiveness of the group of DNA drugs it produces, and relies on data from previous positive clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against a different but related corona virus, the Corona virus that causes the syndrome. Respiratory Middle East.
Innovio said that the newly published data demonstrate the activity of virus neutralization using procedures that include three separate tests.
The researchers also supervising the study said they discovered the presence of antibodies in the lungs of vaccinated animals. Broderick said that Enofeo then plans to test the vaccine in larger animals, including rabbits and monkeys, and to carry out studies "challenging" in mice and monkeys.