WHO says Delta variant is Europe’s main problem
Medicago — a company that has used a close relative of the tobacco plant to make vaccines — said a Phase 3 trial of its Covid-19 vaccine showed it has 75% efficacy against symptoms of any severity caused by the Delta variant of the virus.
The company said no serious adverse events were seen in its trial in 24,000 volunteers in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.
It said it would apply for regulatory approval with Canadian authorities and start the processes for US and European authorization.
The company said the overall vaccine efficacy rate against all variants of the virus was 71%, adding:
“The vaccine candidate demonstrated efficacy of 75.3% against COVID-19 of any severity for the globally dominant Delta variant. Efficacy was 88.6% against the Gamma variant.”
Reactions to the vaccine were generally mild and transient, the company said. It said it would publish the findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
The company uses a close relative of the tobacco plant, called Nicotiana benthamiana, to produce what are known as virus-like particles. These are non-infectious facsimiles of the virus, designed to prime the immune system to recognize a real virus if it infects someone.
The vaccine uses an adjuvant — an immune system booster — made by GlaxoSmithKline.
“If approved, we will be contributing to the world’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with the world’s first plant-based vaccine for use in humans,” Takashi Nagao, CEO and president of Medicago, said in a statement. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is the parent company of Medicago.
