Brazil’s Butantan Institute has registered coronavirus vaccine and requested permission to test it in humans

Brazil announced on Friday its first nationally manufactured vaccine, Butanvac, developed by the State Butantan Institute and that it await the authorization of regulatory bodies to immediately begin testing in humans, as planned by the Governor of São Paulo, Joao doria.

“It’s a historic announcement to the world. The 100% national vaccine, with promising tests and the fruit of the work of a 120-year-old institution, which is the largest producer of vaccines in the southern hemisphere, ”Doria told a press conference at headquarters of the state laboratory in São Paulo.

Earlier, on her Twitter profile, Doria had anticipated the news in a video broadcast after the meeting with the director of the Butantan Institute, Dimas Covas, which lasted until dawn.

“We have spectacular news, which fills us with hope in health, science and life. This is the result of the work of scientists from Butantan over several months of dedication and which we will present to the Brazilian and international scientific community, ”said Doria.

Covas said the development of the purely Brazilian vaccine is “a great contribution and it will be the difference during the epidemic and it will help us to fight it all over the world“.

The Butantan Institute is currently packaging and developing the production of the Coronavac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac and which assists with 90% of vaccinations in Brazil. The remaining 10% comes from the immunizer from Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the UK University of Oxford.

The same institution is conducting clinical studies in Brazil, authorized by the regulatory body, to test a serum made from a virus inactivated by radiation and applied to horses, which produces IgG antibodies and whose blood has been extracted and purified with a technique also used. for decades.

THE SAME INFLUENZA VACCINE TECHNOLOGY

At this Friday’s press conference, Covas explained that the “new vaccine” will be developed from the “same technology” used for the influenza vaccine, used for decades by this immune center.

“There is no vaccine in the world produced in an embryonic egg and it will cost much less than those that are used”Said Covas, who indicated that Vietnam and Thailand are also participating in the consortium for the immunizer, countries in which clinical trials in humans will be conducted.

“Our commitment is to bring this vaccine to low and middle income countries where we need to fight the pandemic. The pandemic may be under control in North America and Europe, but the virus will continue in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, ”added Covas, who did not detail the costs of the disease. project.

Without “interfering” in the process and the schedule of Coronavac, stressed Doria, the Butantan Institute has “and a production capacity of 160 million per year, with different types of vaccines, but in May we will be able to produce 40 million of the new one and we hope to start applying it in the second half of this year“.

“The request to Anvisa (National Agency for Health Surveillance, regulator) it will be immediate, with a sense of urgency and respect for millions of BraziliansAnd we are also going to send all the documentation to the World Health Organization (WHO) today (Friday) to accompany this process in all its phases, ”said Doria.

The new immunizer, according to the state laboratory, is already considering its effectiveness in variants of COVID-19, such as the Amazon discovered in the South American giant.

“It is a vaccine mainly for Brazilians, but later we will serve other sister and friendly nations, like those of the Latin American continent, the two technological allies that we have and those who want it, ”said Doria.

(With information from EFE)

KEEP READING: