A Covid-19 vaccine developed from the tobacco plant by British American Tobacco’s US bio-tech group Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) is now approved for human trials by the US health regulator. Enrolment for the study is expected to start shortly, with results likely by mid-2021, the company said.
“Moving into human trials with both our Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone,” said David O’Reilly, BAT’s director of scientific research. (Tobacco Asia first reported on BAT’s vaccine back in May 2020 - https://www.tobaccoasia.com/news/bat-works-on-vaccine.)
BAT’s press release says the candidate vaccine uses KBP’s innovative fast-growing plant-based technology. This unique approach has a number of possible advantages, including the rapid production of the vaccine’s active ingredients in around 6-weeks, compared to several months using conventional methods. The candidate vaccine also has the potential to be stable at room temperature, which could be a significant advantage for healthcare systems and public health networks worldwide. If successful, the speed of production of the active ingredients has the potential to reduce the time between identifying new viruses and strains, and vaccine development and deployment to those who need it.