MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Canadian lab seeks volunteers in Argentina to test new covid vaccine

Medicago's vaccine is not based on live viruses

The Canadian biopharmaceutical company Medicago is looking for 5000 volunteers in Argentina to prove the effectiveness of a new vaccine against coronavirus, it was announced Tuesday.

Argentina's National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) Tuesday gave the green light for the phase III clinical trials to be conducted.

Medicago has explained through a statement that the drug “applies a different technology to that used by most pharmaceutical laboratories and is based on the use of live plants as bioreactors to reproduce a non-infectious particle that mimics the target virus, but without the use of live viruses.”

The laboratory also specified that these bioreactors ”are known by the name of virus-like particles (VLP).” Each vaccine requires two applications three weeks apart.

The data obtained from the 5,000 Argentine volunteers will be collated with similar studies carried out in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, the United States and Canada, among other countries.

Those interested in participating in the research should visit www.mautalenvacunas.com.

Other vaccines currently under study in Argentina are Israel's BriLife, with phase II still pending publication, and Pfizer-BioNTech's Community, Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) and the Chinese Sinopharm and Cansino (one dose).