MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2021) Brazilian Butantan Institute said it has started the manufacture of ButanVac, a new homegrown coronavirus vaccine, the clinical trials of which are yet to be approved by the country's watchdog.
"On Wednesday, the Butantan Institute received a batch of 520,000 eggs to begin production of ButanVac, a new vaccine against COVID-19. More batches are expected to be received in the next few days, each for 1 million doses, to produce at least 18 million doses by June 15, " the institute said in a statement.
The institute was also preparing documents needed to apply for human trials of the drug, part of which was submitted to the national health surveillance agency Anvisa on March 26. The vaccine has so far been tested only on animals.
ButanVac is expected to enter the market and become available to the Brazilian population in the second half of 2021, but its use would depend on whether or not Anvisa approved the vaccine.
The developers of the two Brazil-made vaccines, ButanVac and Versamune, applied for human trials in March 2020 intending to launch tests the following month and produce more than 40 million doses by the end of the year.
Brazil ranks third in the world in the numbers of COVID-19 cases, with a total of over 3.15 million infections and nearly 400,000 related fatalities, as of Thursday. The country's vaccination campaign currently comprise shots of the Chinese-developed Coronavac vaccine, produced jointly with the Butantan Institute, and AstraZeneca.
The authorities also expect to receive doses of Pfizer vaccine, which has already been authorized by the national regulator, later on Thursday.
