Phase I of clinical trials of Cuba’s second Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Soberana 02, is beginning on Monday, confirmed Dagmar Garcia, Research Director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute.
In her Twitter account, the specialist stressed that ‘government-health-science integration can do everything when the priority is the health of the people.’
‘The vaccination begins on Monday. We will add more Cubans with #Soberana in their arms … Everything is ready to start the clinical trial of Soberana 02 … We will arrive and win,’ said the scientist on the social network.
The director of the Finlay Institute, Vicente Verez, explained recently that Soberana 02 is an unprecedented innovative drug among all those developed to fight the SARS-CoV-2.
The novelty of this new candidate is that it is a conjugate vaccine, in which the virus antigen, the receptor-binding domain (RBD), is chemically bound to the tetanus toxoid.
Soberana 02 ended all the research phases required in experimental animals, demonstrating a powerful and effective immune response against the virus, for which the Finlay Institute requested authorization to start Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults from the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED).
For his part, the president of the Cuban BioCubaFarma business group, Eduardo Martinez, stressed that the strategy outlined to have Cuban Covid-19 vaccines ‘is going well’ and before the end of 2020 there will be four candidates in clinical trials. (PL)
