Four Thai-made Covid vaccines almost ready to seek FDA approval
Four Thai-made Covid vaccines will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval soon if ongoing human trials are successful, the Public Health Ministry announced on Tuesday.
About 20 vaccines are currently being developed in Thailand with four at the advanced stage, according to the ministry’s Thai Roo Soo Covid (Thais Know, Fight Covid) Facebook page.
The four prototype vaccines now being tested on humans are Chula-Cov19, HXP-GPOVac, Baiya SARS-CoV-2 Vax and Covigen.
Once they pass the third phase of clinical trials, the vaccines would be registered with the FDA, said the post.
The Chula-Cov19 prototype developed by a team at Chulalongkorn University uses the same mRNA technology as the highly effective Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
Meanwhile, the HXP-GPOVac prototype is an inactivated chimeric vaccine, incubated in eggs via the same production method used for influenza vaccine.
The Baiya prototype is a subunit protein vaccine made from tobacco. It uses a genetically engineered tobacco extract that stimulates the body’s immune response against Covid-19. This vaccine does not cause side effects, the ministry page said.
Covigen is a gene-based vaccine that is also needle-free. This prototype is administered with a painless jet injector that delivers a narrow stream of water under pressure.
Other Thai-developed vaccines are currently being tested on animals – including viral vector, protein subunit, and virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines.
The vaccines are being developed by the National Vaccine Institute, Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, National Science and Technology Development Agency, National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotech), Chulalongkorn University, Mahidol University and private firms.
The page added that a team of Biotech researchers has also developed Thailand’s first nasal vaccine for Covid-19. NASTAC has successfully passed animal tests and will begin human trials with 200 to 300 doses in the second quarter of this year.
