British American Tobacco plant in Nairobi's Industrial Area. FILE PHOTO | NMG
- British American Tobacco
- (BAT) has entered the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine through its US-based subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP).
- KBP said its project was in pre-clinical testing and that if all goes well, between one and three million doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week beginning in June.
Summary
British American Tobacco (BAT) has entered the race to develop a
Covid-19 vaccine through its US-based subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing
(KBP).
KBP said its project was in pre-clinical
testing and that if all goes well, between one and three million doses
of the vaccine could be manufactured per week beginning in June.
“While
KBP remains a commercial operation, the intention is that its work
around the Covid-19 vaccine project will be carried out on a not for
profit basis,” BAT said in a statement.
There are no US
Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines or treatments save for
authorisation to use hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine
phosphate to treat Covid-19 patients.
“We are engaged
with the US Food and Drug Administration and are seeking guidance on
next steps. We have also engaged with the UK’s Department for Health and
Social Care, and BARDA in the US, to offer our support and access to
our research with the aim of trying to expedite the development of a
vaccine for Covid-19,” Dr David O’Reilly, director of scientific
research, BAT said.
BAT joins legacy drugmakers and small startups who have stepped
forward with plans to develop vaccines or treatments that target the
infection caused by the coronavirus.
About 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create such a vaccine.
BAT
said it would use its tobacco plant technology because the elements of
the vaccine accumulate in tobacco plants much more quickly — six weeks
in tobacco plants versus several months using conventional methods.
No comments :
Post a Comment