COVID-19: British cigarette company claims tobacco-based coronavirus vaccine ready for human trials

New Delhi: As the race towards finding a cure, and vaccine to prevent COVID-19 intensifies, various pharma giants, medical experts and researches are working tirelessly. According to report, the world’s number 2 cigarette company, British American Tobacco, on Friday, said that it was ready to test its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, made with proteins from tobacco leaves, on humans.

The vaccine has reportedly produced positive results in pre-clinical trials. The makers said that once they get an approval from the USFDA for the vaccine, it can progress into the Phase 1 trials, or commonly known as human trials.

The company had been in the news in early April when they announced the development of the tobacco-based vaccine. They had said that they can produce 1 to 3 million doses per week if given the right support from government agencies and manufacturers. 

On Friday, the company said that it had submitted a pre-investigative new drug application to the FDA and that the approving body had acknowledged the submission. The company said that they will also talk to other government agencies around the world for the development of the vaccine.

More than a hundred vaccines are currently under development, globally, against the novel coronavirus, while about only 10 of them are in the human trials phase. Experts have suggested that it can take 12-18 months to develop a vaccine, while some have also suggested that a vaccine against coronavirus may never be found.