Il Covid-eVax Italian vaccine, from Takis and Rottapharm Biotech companies protects against SarsCoV2 virus infection and works against variants: data obtained in preclinical models indicate this, that is, on mice modified so as to have the same human Ace receptor used by the virus to invade cells, and on the basis of which the phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, in progress, have been launched.
I study
I give, presented to an important international magazine, I’m online on the BioRxiv website, which includes works not yet submitted to the scrutiny of the scientific community. The vaccine is different from those approved so far in Europe and the United States because it uses DNA technology combined with the electroporation technique, which allows the passage of DNA into cells using short electrical stimuli, developed thanks to the collaboration with another Italian company. , the Igea of Carpi (Modena).
The experimentation
It studio is the result of an international collaboration which includes the Spallanzani Institute, the Regina Elena Institute, Ingm and the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, the German University of Ulm and the Israeli University of Tel Aviv, the National Infection Service of the British Public Health England. Based on the results obtained in the study, in March Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials have begun in Italy at the San Gerardo Hospital of Monza with the University of Milan Bicocca, the National Cancer Institute IRCCS Pascale of Naples, the Spallanzani Institute and the Clinical Research Center of Verona, in collaboration with the VisMederi laboratories in Siena.
The results
“The data obtained in the hACE2 mouse model, which has the same receptor as man and develops a similar pathology, show the virus protection and the absence of symptoms respiratory and clinical effects due to SarsCov2 infection ”, notes Matteo Iannacone, of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan and professor of the Vita-Salute University. “Never as in this historical moment have we understood qhow important scientific research is to fight the pandemic and other diseases. In Italy we have excellent scientists with excellent ideas and skills that need to be appropriately funded to make the country more competitive ”, adds Iannacone. “Thanks to competitive European funding, the results obtained in mice were confirmed in the ferret, a widely used model for respiratory viruses and predictive of vaccine efficacy, ”says Fabio Palombo, director of Takis’ Cancer Vaccines Area.
Costs
The vaccine, the two companies note in a note, offers the advantage of being “economical, does not need complex formulations, can be produced on a large scale and it does not need the cold chain “. A similar technology is also being tested in the veterinary field, adds Antonella Conforti, director of Evvivax, the veterinary spinoff of Takis: “SarsCoV2 is in fact able to infect various animal species – he adds – and it is important to prevent the onset of new variants with vaccination, where possible “.