Now, A Plant-Based COVID Vaccine Found To Be 70% Effective Against Variants

Toronto: A newly-developed plant-based COVID-19 vaccine has been found to be 69.5 per cent effective against symptomatic disease caused by five variants of the coronavirus.

Developed by researchers at Canadian biotechnology company Medicago, the vaccine contains coronavirus-like particles (CoVLP) produced in plants. These particles are combined with an adjuvant (ASO3) — a substance which enhances the body’s immune response to an antigen — that helps vaccines work better.

The phase 3 human clinical trial of the vaccine was conducted among 24,141 adults who were randomly assigned to receive two intramuscular injections of CoVLP+AS03 vaccine or placebo, 21 days apart.

COVID-19 was confirmed by PCR test in 165 participants.

The study was published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

“The CoVLP+AS03 vaccine was effective in preventing COVID-19 caused by a spectrum of variants, with efficacy ranging from 69.5 per cent against symptomatic infection to 78.8 per cent against moderate-to-severe disease,” the researchers said, adding that there was no severe COVID-19 case in the vaccine group.

Adverse events were mild or moderate and transient, and occurred more frequently in the vaccine group.

As for local adverse events, it was found in 92.3 and 45.5 per cent in vaccine group and placebo group, respectively, while systemic adverse events occurred in 87.3 and 65.0 per cent, respectively.

“The potential effect of this plant-based technology in the current pandemic will be greatly influenced by the evolution of the pandemic itself. However, the availability and further development of this platform could have important implications for pandemic readiness,” authors of the study stated.