THAILAND is set to start human trials on its homegrown plant-based Covid-19 vaccine in September and the product is expected to be ready for local usage next year.

The subunit vaccine is co-developed by Chulalongkorn University’s Vaccine Research Centre and Baiya Phytopharm Co. Ltd. (Baiya Phytopharm).

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said a total 100 volunteers would participate in the first clinical trial of the vaccine.

He said the volunteers would be given three different dosages – 10, 50 and 100 micrograms of the candidate vaccine to determine an appropriate effective dose for adults.

He said a pre-clinical study on mice and monkey found the vaccine candidate being highly effective in boosting the animals’ immunity.

“If human trials are successful, the vaccine will be ready for Thais next year.

“The researchers are testing it against 10 variants. If the research is successful, we may have something similar to a flu vaccine that can protect against several strains,” he said quoting Bangkok Post.

In a press release, Chulalongkorn University said the Baiya vaccine is produced from plant leaves by Baiya Phytofarm and uses heirloom tobacco leaves from Australia to function as the virus’ non-pathogenic genetic materials. 

Chief executive officer and co-founder of Baiya Phytofarm assistant professor Dr Sutheera Dejkhunnavuth said the Baiya vaccine against Covid-19 is a subunit vaccine that has been produced for a long time in other countries using plants, insects while some countries like Canada and South Korea use plant leaves.

“This vaccine uses heirloom tobacco leaves from Australia to function as the virus’ non-pathogenic genetic materials. When injected into the body, the vaccine will boost our immunity to fight the infection,” Sutheera said.

She said the vaccine is expected to be ready in middle of next year at 300 to 500 baht per dose.

In addition to the Baiya vaccine, Chulalongkorn University researchers have been developing Covid-19 vaccines including ChulaCov19, an mRNA vaccine which saw its first phase of clinical trials conducted in June. 

Thailand reported 22,086 new Covid-19 cases and 217 fatalities over the last 24 hours, taking the tally of infections to 885,275 and 7,343 deaths to date. – Bernama, August 14, 2021.