Scientists In Poland began testing a coronavirus vaccine developed by scientists from the Institute of cell biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv. It is being tested for immunogenicity at a Polish institute in Gdansk. The study is carried out on mice. The next step will be testing on transgenic rodents in Krakow.
The Ministry of health of Ukraine also allowed the third phase of clinical trials of vaccines against coronavirus to be conducted in Ukraine. Adult citizens will be involved in testing.
It is noted that the Ukrainian institute received a grant of about $380 000 for the development of a vaccine against coronavirus. The project was designed for 1.5 years and is nearing completion.
The structure of the Ukrainian vaccine
Ukrainian vaccine is a protein or several proteins of the coronavirus, primarily the spike protein. The drug is expected to be more effective in producing antibodies. The results of the testing should be known in two-three weeks. After that, the tests will be carried out on transgenic mice vulnerable to the human coronavirus.
COVID pills?
The main focus of Ukrainian developers is on the creation of an oral vaccine — it is much cheaper to manufacture than the currently used injectable vaccines and should be more effective against various strains of COVID-19.
The vaccine created by the Ukrainians can be used in the form of a tablet, spray or mixture and is supposed to be administered orally. Currently, there are no analogs to the Ukrainian project in the world.
Perspectives of Ukrainian vaccine
One of the vaccine developers and international health and epidemiology expert — Mikhailo Favorov assumed that the current development suggests that the future vaccine will help fight new types of coronavirus infections that are constantly mutating.
