THE vaccine Brazilian against Covid-19 developed by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) of Minas Gerais and by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) will begin to be tested in humans later this year.
According to Fiocruz, the researchers are awaiting authorization from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to start clinical trials of SpiN-TEC. In these steps, the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine will be evaluated.
In the pre-clinical phase, the immunizer showed positive results in laboratory animals and in non-human primates. According to the institution, factors such as temperature, weight loss, systemic or local changes were evaluated.
“No side effects were observed at the application site or systemic changes, such as weight loss or temperature change. In addition, excellent levels of antibodies, T-lymphocyte response and protection against infection with Sars-CoV2 were observed in laboratory animals”, says the coordinator of the study, Ricardo Gazzinelli.
vaccine technology
The vaccine consists of the fusion of two proteins, S and N, which result in a “chimera” protein. The technology guarantees greater protection against variants of the coronavirus.
“This association gives SpiN-TEC a differential in relation to other immunizers, which only contemplate the S protein, in which most of the virus mutations and the efficiency of neutralizing antibodies occur. The N protein, on the other hand, is less subject to mutations that generate new variants”, explains Fiocruz.
“It is a vaccine that acts in the production of antibodies and also at the cellular level, inducing a response of Ts lymphocytes, cells with immunological functions of effecting antiviral responses”, adds the foundation.
The idea is that SpiN-TEC works as a booster dose to the primary vaccination schedule against the disease. “Our request to Anvisa is to test the response capacity in relation to this reinforcement against Covid-19”, says Gazzinelli.
In addition to being a specialist from Fiocruz Minas and UFMG, scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (USP) and the Ezequiel Dias Foundation (Funed) also participated in the process of formulating the immunizer.
Source: CNN Brasil
