The world has the first patent-free vaccine against covid-19, Corbevax. Its development seeks to reduce the inequity of vaccines in the midst of the SARS-CoV-2 emergency and encourage production in the region, assured the microbiologist and clinical chemist, María Elena Bottazzi, co-director of the Center for the Development of Vaccines of the Children’s Hospital. of Texas, in Houston, United States.
Bottazzi, together with his colleague, the scientist Peter Hotez, and his team, have accumulated more than a decade of experience in investigating vaccines against other coronaviruses. This knowledge facilitated the production of a serum with recombinant protein technology, which has also been used in vaccines against hepatitis B.
“This vaccine is based on a recombinant protein. Proteins are the products that have to be presented to our immune system. When you get an mRNA vaccine, like the ones from Pfizer and Moderna, our body has to process that genetic code, and eventually create a protein, and the protein is what’s presented to our immune system. When we use an adenovirus vaccine, like the one from Sputnik or AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson, it’s a DNA code, which then turns into mRNA and then turns into protein inside our body. We decided to go directly to produce a protein in the laboratory (…)”, explained the scientist of Honduran origin in an interview on the program Tonight.
By using a conventional methodology, it makes it more affordable; that type of serum costs no more than two dollars per dose, Bottazzi said.. For its part, the manufacture of the vaccine is in charge of the Indian laboratory Biological E, which in addition to receiving all the supplies from the scientists, was in charge of the phase three clinical studies. It was found that the percentage of efficacy of Corbevax is greater than 80% against the delta and beta variants.
They are currently studying the level of protection it offers against omicron, and its possible combination as a reinforcement. They also carry out studies in pediatric ages.
Unlike the rest of the vaccines against covid-19, the free use of Corbevax makes it easier for a scientist to “read our articles and recreate our vaccine, without even calling us if necessary,” he said. But it also allows it to be produced locally.
“We are not interested in producing it only in high-income countries, we want medium- and low-income countries to be able to produce it by themselves, and at the same time, reinforce that local capacity, and eventually, also learn new technologies and train the new scientists, said the microbiologist.
The promise of producing vaccines
The Ortega regime promised in 2020 the production of Russian vaccines against covid-19 at the Mechnikov Institute. In October 2021, Vice President Rosario Murillo assured that the plant would start laboratory tests to produce and apply the Russian CoviVac vaccine this year, the third serum against covid-19 developed by that country. However, so far there are no signs of concrete progress.
Bottazzi does not know the production capacity of the plant, but affirms that developing “recombinant protein is not necessarily easy, but neither is it that complex compared to other technologies (…)”. He considers that any manufacturing factory that is interested in bringing this capacity into its ecosystem could do so, which would represent an important contribution to the region.
In 2021, the goal of vaccinating 40% of the world population was not met, in large part, due to hoarding of vaccines from developed countries. Inequity took its toll on poorer nations with low immunization rates. The goal for this 2022 is to cover 70% of the world population and, under that line, what this new vaccine seeks is to “fill that gap of inequity,” said Bottazzi.
He considered that for countries like Nicaragua or Honduras, it is not “sustainable to be able to continue buying at very high prices. The intention is that, eventually, products are selected that are highly safe, have good efficacy, but also give them the option of having more affordable prices, because they can buy many more doses with the same amount of money. I think eventually, the market is going to balance out. Right now, the urgency is really to make these vaccines reach where they do not exist and to even reinforce vaccination in populations that are now seeing the impact of omicron and that continue to be unprotected “, he expressed.
In search of worldwide approval
India authorized the emergency use of Corbevax at the end of 2021. And on the other hand, the team also values production in countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Botswana, Infobae said.
Likewise, they work to comply with all the processes to obtain global authorization by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr. Bottazzi points out that in addition to facilitating large-scale production, this patent-free vaccine can create more confidence among the population that is reluctant to immunize against the pandemic because it uses a known technology compared to other vaccines that developed a technology new in the midst of the health crisis.
“This vaccine brings a solution that is already conventional and has been used for many years, so I believe that in the area of access, in the area of production, in the area of efficacy and safety, this vaccine is going to help the world,” he said.
