Clinical trials of a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the coronavirus infection, will be carried out among volunteers in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the director-general of the Biocad biotechnology company, Dmitry Morozov, said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) Clinical trials of a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the coronavirus infection, will be carried out among volunteers in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the director-general of the Biocad biotechnology company, Dmitry Morozov, said on Wednesday.
The biotechnology company is developing an mRNA vaccine against the disease and is currently working together with the Institute of Experimental Medicine and the Vector State Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology on the creation of two other vaccines.
"The most promising thing for us right now is what we are doing with the Vector State Research Center. This is a vaccine based on vesicular stomatitis. We will send the finished dosage to Novosibirsk for testing by the end of this month. Formal, preclinical trials will already begin at the end of this month, that is, Vector will test the protective properties of the vaccine, and we, as a company, will research all issues related to the safety of the vaccine and design clinical trials. Clinical trials on healthy volunteers will be held in St. Petersburg," Morozov told reporters.
The CEO added that the company was also expecting that Russia's Levilimab drug, which is used to treat COVID-19 complications, will be registered in late May or early June.
Levilimab was developed as a rheumatoid arthritis therapy. The drug inhibits Interleukin 6, an immune protein active in inflammation which can be overproduced. This potentially fatal immune reaction, called a cytokine storm, has been observed in severe COVID-19 patients.
"We expect registration [of the drug] at the end of this month, the beginning of next. It is very close. Every day we are in contact with the [Russian] Health Ministry," Morozov noted.
The company is receiving a special permit via state registration for its drugs since the action mechanism of the drug's active substance is associated with the cytokine storm.
Last month, the World Health Organization included nine experimental Russian medicines in its list of 70 COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Three of them are produced by or in partnership with Biocad.
