Industrial production has begun of Cuba’s candidate vaccines Soberana 02 and Abdala (CIGB-66), two of the four developed on the island to combat COVID-19, with progress advancing at BioCubaFarma facilities
Cuba has begun the process of scaling up industrial production of Cuba’s candidate vaccines Soberana 02 and Abdala (CIGB-66), two of the four developed on the island to combat COVID-19, with progress being made at facilities affiliated with the BioCubaFarma state enterprise group.
Cuban television reported that, during in a meeting with the President of the Republic, Dr. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, stated, “We are scaling up the process of conjugation of Soberana 02, and have been able to produce a batch of 150,000 doses that came out very well, an important scientific-technical milestone.”
He reported that a second batch is already being prepared, and described the accomplishment as good news, adding that everyone involved feels “very hopeful.”
MSc Rita María García, BioCubaFarma’s director of Operations, told Granma that the first batches manufactured on this larger scale will be used shortly in phase III clinical studies of the two candidate vaccines.
Soberana 02 is an innovative product created at the Finlay Vaccine Institute, its novelty lies in the fact that it is a conjugated vaccine, in which the virus antigen, the receptor binding domain (RBD), is chemically linked to the tetanus toxoid, while Abdala was conceived at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).
Cuba has extensive experience in the development and production of vaccines. At present, the national biopharmaceutical industry manufactures eight of the 11 vaccines used in the national expanded immunization program, which ensures a vaccination level in the country close to 100%, with a significant impact on the elimination of several infectious diseases and the reduction of the incidence rate of others.
(Taken from Granma)