Griffith University in Australia has partnered with vaccines manufacturing company Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.
The partners intend to create a live attenuated vaccine. They will use codon de-optimisation technology to alter the virus’ genome to reduce its replication efficiency in human cells, making it harmless.
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According to the researchers, the vaccine will mimic the infection but cannot cause disease, while also capable of stimulating all arms of the immune response.
The vaccine could offer long-lasting immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, with a single immunisation.
Furthermore, the researchers hope that the vaccine will deliver cross-protection against other coronaviruses such as MERS and SARS-CoV-1.
Menzies Health Institute Queensland professor Suresh Mahalingam said: “This technology is promising for developing a live-attenuated vaccine for prophylactic, active, single-dose immunisation against coronavirus in humans, with an enhanced safety profile.
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By GlobalData“As the vaccine will be live-attenuated, it is expected to be highly effective by providing a strong cellular and antibody immune responses against the virus.”
IIL and the university are already working on a Zika virus vaccine, currently in the pre-clinical toxicology testing stage. The company should submit the application for clinical trials soon.
Indian Immunologicals managing director Dr Prasanna Deshpande said: “After evaluating various options being followed across the world, we decided to develop a Live Attenuated Covid-19 vaccine based on codon de-optimised technology.
“We hope this new cross-continental collaboration will yield the desired results.”
If approved, the Covid-19 vaccine could be available in the market in late 2021.
In Australia, the University of Queensland is also developing a Covid-19 vaccine candidate, currently in the preclinical testing stage.
