MALAYSIA has joined the global race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 infections.
The Institute for Medical Research has agreed to collaborate with the Malaysian Vaccines and Pharmaceutical Sdn Bhd, a local veterinary vaccines manufacturer and the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Center (TIDREC) of University Malaya to engage in testing a currently available vaccine.[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
This was stated in a joint press release issued in Kuala Lumpur today.
“The three organisations will embark in testing the existing local vaccines for Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), an avian coronavirus – against the SARS-COV-2, the causative agent for the COVID-19 disease.
“The collaborative work will replicate what scientists from Israel have done as published in an article in the Jerusalem Post recently,” the statement said.
According to the Jerusalem Post article, the Israeli researchers claimed that IBV in poultry has high genetic similarity with the human coronavirus. Human vaccine may be developed using poultry IBV vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
This testing is known as a neutralisation test, which will be conducted using the hyperimmune serum raised from the IBV vaccine. The serum containing the antibodies raised from the IBV vaccine will be used to neutralise the live virus of SARS-COV-2, and evaluate the neutralisation efficacy of the antibody against the disease.
The study will reveal if there is a cross reaction between antibodies from an avian coronavirus vaccine with the SARS-COV-2 virus.
According to the statement, the testing will be conducted at TIDREC UM, one of the country’s only modular biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facility which has been used to study highly pathogenic agents such as MERS Coronavirus and Nipah Virus.
“The purpose of the study is to test whether the prepared hyper immune serum against IBVM41 or IBVH120 produced in SPF chickens can neutralize COVID-19 agent, the SARS-CoV-2.
“If virus neutralisation test shown to have cross reactivity between antibodies of IBV vaccine with SARS-CoV2, then those IBV vaccines used in poultry may be used to develop vaccine for human against COVID-19.
“If successful, the country will potentially have a human vaccine to go into clinical trial soon. In the normal circumstances, vaccine development takes 15 to 20 years, and this approach will enable availability of COVID-19 vaccine sooner than expected,” the statement said.[/ihc-hide-content]
