The only Canadian vaccine maker with a contract to sell doses to the federal government has posted a promising midpoint look at trial results as researchers work to secure Health Canada approval by as early as this summer.
Data for the second phase of human testing suggests the vaccine candidate, made by Quebec-based Medicago, prompted volunteers to produce as much as 10 times the neutralizing antibodies, which fight off COVID-19, as those who had actually been infected by the virus. No serious adverse reactions were observed, the company said.
The research was posted online in an article that still has to be peer-reviewed, or vetted by other experts, but the “promising results” suggest the finishing line is approaching, says one of the scientists involved.
With about 500 employees, Medicago is a relatively small company compared to the pharmaceutical giants of the world, and the team has been working long hours, said Nathalie Landry, the company’s executive vice-president of scientific and medical affairs.
“We’re trying to achieve a lot with a small team and we need to do everything,” she said. “I can’t wait until we get to that Phase 3 and approval of the vaccine.”
The vaccine candidate is the furthest along Canadian dose, and has already started undergoing Health Canada’s regulatory review process.
The biotechnology company, which also has a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, is using a strategy that is unique among leading vaccine contenders. Researchers are using a cousin of a tobacco plant to grow what’s known as a viruslike particle, which tricks your body into thinking it’s been infected by the coronavirus and then into mounting a defence.
Medicago is so far the only Canadian company to ink an advance purchase agreement for its vaccine. Last fall, the federal government gave the company $173 million for as many as 76 million doses of its vaccine, should it prove successful, as well as a vaccine-manufacturing facility currently under construction in Quebec City.
When that facility is completed, likely sometime next year, the vaccine will be made in Canada. Until then, the company plans to brew large vats of vaccine at its facility in North Carolina before doing what’s called “fill and finish,” or the packaging into little vials, in Montreal. If all goes well vaccines could be ready to roll out by fall.
The final phase of human testing on Medicago’s candidate is underway. The trial has enrolled thousands of volunteers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and, starting this week, Brazil. There are plans to add about a half-dozen sites around the world, Landry said. Unlike vaccine makers that were testing last year, it can now be more challenging to recruit volunteers for an untested vaccine, she said, which is part of the reason the company is going to a lot of different countries.