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A biotech company based in the Cantanhede Technology Park will begin testing mice next month to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, Immunethep CEO Bruno Santos told Lusa today.
According to the head of the business, within two to three months there should be “results that allow human trials to begin.”
The company had already developed work with another vaccine, in order to prevent bacterial infections, which are often the cause of death in hospitalized patients, including people infected with Covid-19.
Speaking to Lusa, the head of the company said that from that moment they decided to move on to “developing a specific vaccine for Covid-19.”
Siphiwe Sibeko
The formulation found will begin to be tested in mice next month and the production of the vaccine, if approved, will be done with a company in Canada with which the Portuguese biotechnology company is already working on the other vaccine in the bacterial area.
“Right now, we have a defined formulation and we are ready to test it in the animal model,” said Bruno Santos.
The basis for the design of this vaccine comes from inactivated viruses, he explained.
Kai pfaffenbach
In a statement, the company announced that its flagship product is a broad-spectrum antibacterial vaccine that is “ready to enter clinical trials” and that with the Covid-19 pandemic, it decided to put the skills and knowledge acquired in the development of “new solutions “that can help stop the disease and its consequences.
“The knowledge generated in the vaccine development process has allowed us to move rapidly towards the development trials of a vaccine for Covid-19. This vaccine was designed to enhance the immune response to the virus in the lungs. The vaccine has a double function: induce the production of specific antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and increase our natural ability to fight viral infections ”, reads the document issued by the company.
“Recent publications show that at least 50% of fatal cases associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections are due to opportunistic infections caused by multi-resistant bacteria. Considering that vaccinating these patients against SARS CoV-2 would not generate a timely response , Immunethep is developing a therapy with monoclonal antibodies to treat this type of opportunistic bacterial infections ”, add the authors of the work.
The objective is, through vaccination, to prevent diseases and to prevent transmission from person to person and, on the other hand, “through treatment with monoclonal antibodies”, to mitigate the symptoms of already infected patients “significantly reducing” the number of fatal cases. in patients with Covid-19.
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) announced on Wednesday the existence of a total of 1,928 deaths and 70,465 cases of covid-19 in Portugal since the beginning of the pandemic.
The death toll rose from 1,925 to 1,928, 3 more than on Tuesday. The number of infected people increased from 69,663 to 70,465, plus 802.
In the last 24 hours, there were 25 more hospitalizations, increasing to 571 the number of people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals, while there was an increase of 25 users in intensive care, for a total of 77.
Rafael Marchante
Innovative therapy aims to eliminate coronavirus in seconds
A consortium formed by the University of Coimbra, the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra and two companies, one Portuguese and the other Canadian, wants to develop an innovative therapy to eliminate the virus that causes covid-19 “in a few seconds”. Wednesday. market.
Called FOTOVID, the project aims to eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the covid-19 disease, “right at the main ‘doorway’ of the body, that is, in the nostrils, using photodynamic therapy”says the University of Coimbra (UC), in a note sent today to the Lusa agency.
Kai pfaffenbach
