The first patent for the Pan-Corona vaccine against COVID-19fruit of the collaboration in the biotechnological sector between Cuba and Chinawas presented this Wednesday at the National Intellectual Property Office of the Asian country, according to official sources.
The president of BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, wrote on his Twitter account that “these joint investigations have the purpose of achieving vaccines effective against coronaviruses and would not only have value in the current pandemic, but could be effective against the appearance of new pathogens belonging to this family of viruses.
These joint investigations have the purpose of achieving effective vaccines against coronaviruses and would not only have value in the current pandemic, but could also be effective against the appearance of new pathogens belonging to this family of viruses. #CubaForLife (2/2)
– Eduardo Martínez Díaz (@EdMartBCF) June 2, 2022
For his part, the director of biomedical research at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB)Gerardo Guillén explained that the project to conceive Pan-Corona arose at the request of the Chinese side and has the approval of the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (Citma), refers the website Cubadebate.
The specialist explained that the new drug is based on combining parts of the virus that are conserved and not so exposed to variation (to generate antibodies), with those directed at cellular responses, adds the publication.
Guillén also commented that it is “a strategy that could protect against epidemiological emergencies of new strains of the coronavirus that may exist in the future.”
points out Cubadebate that the Pan-Corona project is based on a joint biotechnological research and development center that has been operating since 2019 in the city of Yongzhou (Hunan province, center) and is led by CIGB experts.
All the predictions and scientific rationality point to the fact that unfortunately we will have to suffer new epidemics as a logical result of the increase in the world population, animal production and the movement of people, Guillén explained in an interview with the agency EFE, reviews the medium
The initiative focuses on coronaviruses not only due to the global crisis caused by SARS-CoV-2, but also taking into account that this family of viruses is one of the most likely to jump from animals to humans – a phenomenon called zoonosis – , with antecedents such as MERS in the Middle East or SARS-CoV-1.
The publication underlines that Pan-Corona is a recombinant-type antigen, which is the vaccine development platform in which the CIGB has the most experience, with successful antecedents such as that of hepatitis B, in addition to two of the Cuban vaccines against COVID-19, one of them Abdala, produced by this scientific institution.
