Tobacco Major Claims Development Of COVID-19 Vaccine, Ready For Human Trial

British American Tobacco (BAT) has claimed to have developed a coronavirus vaccine that is ready for human trials.

The experimental vaccine has shown promise in lab tests, the London-based number 2 manufacturer of cigarettes said on Friday. The vaccine will enter the first stage of human trials in the United States.

“We have committed funds to conduct these clinical trials, which could start as early as late June, pending the responses from relevant health bodies,” BAT said in a statement.

The company is in touch with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other government agencies for the trial and the Phase 1 trials are pending FDA authorisation.

The vaccine is based on an artificially built fragment of the virus called an antigen, which is inserted into tobacco plants for reproduction. “Once the plants were harvested, the antigen was then purified,” BAT said.

This antigen is expected to generate an immune response from the body when administered to human beings.

However, BAT’s experimental vaccine isn’t found on the list of potential vaccine makers database for COVID-19 by World Health Organisation.