Canadian researchers are developing a DNA vaccine not just for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but also for all the other viruses of the coronavirus family. This vaccine, if successfully developed, will be effective against all coronavirus-related diseases from the past, present and the future.<\/p>\n
Entos Pharmaceuticals, a health-care biotechnology company headed by a University of Alberta researchers, has developed a new therapeutic compounds using the company's proprietary drug-delivery platform, and has begun manufacturing vaccine candidates against the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n
\"Given the urgency of the situation, we can have a lead candidate vaccine within two months. Once we have that it's a race to get it into clinical trials,\" said John Lewis, CEO of Entos and a Professor at the University of Alberta in Canada.<\/p>\n
Lewis said in comparison to a traditional vaccine, DNA-based vaccines hold several advantages.<\/p>\n
Nucleic acids are introduced directly into the patient's own cells, causing them to make pieces of the virus, and thereby tricking the immune system into mounting a response without the full virus actually being present, the researcher said.<\/p>\n
According to the company, the approach is recognised as being easier to move into large-scale manufacturing, offers improved vaccine stability, and works without needing an infectious agent.<\/p>\n
In the current absence of a vaccine for COVID-19, several companies around the world are mounting efforts to begin similar work.<\/p>\n
The first clinical trial using a DNA-based vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. in the US was on March 13. Their approach allows for antibodies to be made in the human trial volunteers against a specific protein on the surface of the coronavirus that lets the virus enter human cells. The hope is that the antibodies will stop the interaction.<\/p>\n
Though this approach is designed to be effective against COVID-19 specifically, Lewis said Entos is taking a different track. The company plans to use plasmid DNA to amplify the production of key coronavirus surface and structural proteins with each injection, with an eye to the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
\"Many of the structural proteins in the virus are pretty well conserved across all the coronaviruses, including SARS and MERS,\" said Lewis.<\/p>\n
\"We're hoping that if we express more of the structural proteins that are common to most coronaviruses, we can inhibit the current COVID-19, and also potentially protect against all coronaviruses both past and future,\" Lewis added.<\/p>\n
To move the project forward quickly, the company is seeking financial support from both provincial and federal levels of the government. \"We have the opportunity to save a lot of lives, and I think it's really upon us and governments to find solutions for that,\" Lewis said.<\/p>\n
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Excerpt from: Canadian researchers are developing a DNA vaccine not just for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but also for all the other viruses of the coronavirus family. This vaccine, if successfully developed, will be effective against all coronavirus-related diseases from the past, present and the future Continue reading
\nCanadian Researchers are Attempting to Develop One DNA Vaccine to Stop All Coronaviruses - The Weather Channel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"