Coronavirus breakthrough? Israeli researchers make discovery that could lead to vaccine approval in as soon as 90 days
Coronavirus
breakthrough? Israeli researchers make discovery that could lead to vaccine
This discovery was identified as a by-product of MIGAL’s
development of a vaccine against IBV, a disease affecting poultry.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
Israeli researchers at
MIGAL Institute have developed an effective vaccine against avian Coronavirus
Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) and are adapting it to create a human vaccine
against Coronavirus (COVID-19), which is rapidly spreading around the globe.
After four years of
multi-disciplinary research funded by Israel’s Ministry of Science and
Technology in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, the MIGAL
Galilee Research Institute has achieved a scientific breakthrough that may lead
to the rapid creation of a vaccine against coronavirus in the coming weeks.
This discovery was
identified as a by-product of MIGAL’s development of a vaccine against IBV, a
disease affecting poultry, which effectiveness has been proven in pre-clinical
trials carried out at the Veterinary Institute.
MIGAL has made required
genetic adjustments to adapt the vaccine to COVID-19, the human strain of
coronavirus, and is working to achieve the safety approvals that will enable
preclinical testing and the initiation of production of a vaccine to counter
the Coronavirus epidemic.
Research conducted at
MIGAL has revealed that the poultry coronavirus has high genetic similarity to
the human COVID-19 and that it uses the same infection mechanism, a fact that
increases the likelihood of achieving an effective human vaccine in a very
short time.
Commenting on the news,
David Zigdon, CEO of MIGAL, said that “given the urgent global need for a human
coronavirus vaccine, we are doing everything we can to accelerate development.
Our goal is to produce the vaccine during the next 8-10 weeks, and to achieve
safety approval in 90 days.”
The vaccine will be
oral, making it particularly accessible to the general public.
Israel’s Minister of
Science and Technology Ofir Akunis congratulated MIGAL “on this exciting
breakthrough. I am confident that there will be further rapid progress,
enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat.”
He has instructed the
Director-General of the Ministry of Science and Technology to fast-track all
approval processes with the goal of bringing the human vaccine to market as
quickly as possible.
A few cases of corona
have been sighted in Israel, mostly Israelis returning from the East, and
possibly some who have come in contact with tourists from South Korea who were
already ill with the virus, but there has yet to be a widespread outbreak in the
country.
The novel coronavirus
COVID-19 is affecting 48 countries around the world.
China’s National Health
Commission stated that at least 82,200 cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been
confirmed in the country, including at least 2,800 deaths. Some 33,300 have
recovered.
The MIGAL Galilee
Research Institute is a regional Research and Development center of the Israeli
Science and Technology Ministry owned by the Galilee Development Company Ltd.
In 2019, Israel’s
Ministry of Science and Technology provided MIGAL with NIS 30 million to fund
its research, covering approximately 50% of its budget.
MIGAL is an
internationally recognized multi-disciplinary applied research institute that
specializes in biotechnology and computer sciences, plant science, precision
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