Cuban scientists start second phase of Soberana 02 vaccine

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22 December 2020

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Havana, Dec 22 (Prensa Latina) Cuban scientists started the second phase of clinical trial on the Soberana 02 vaccine on Tuesday, when the first volunteers were vaccinated.

Only a few days ago, the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV), leaders of the project of the first anti-Covid-19 vaccine trials in Cuba, said that this second candidate would begin such stage after preliminary positive results. This way, the Soberana 02 candidate becomes the first Latin American vaccine to advance in the studies, experts added.

On her Twitter account, IFV Research Director Dagmar Garcia wrote that the vaccination of the first volunteers during the 2nd phase of clinical trials with Soberana 02 has begun.

'Rigor and professionalism in each stage. Every day a little bit closer to arrive and win,' she tweeted.

In November, the IFV started the first phase of clinical trials on Soberana 02, whose first dose showed encouraging results 14 days after being administered, IFV Director Vicente Verez recently told Prensa Latina.

Soberana 02 is a combined vaccine in which the antigen of the virus, the receptor binding domain (RBD), is chemically linked to the tetanus toxoid.

According to Verez, the vaccine has two formulations and the second one achieved great effectiveness in animals, since it provoked a very powerful immune response from the first week of its first dose.

It also induces a long lasting memory in the immune response that, besides producing antibodies, makes them last.

Therefore, that formula is having a different expectation and it would only be necessary to confirm those results in humans, the scientist said.

Soberana 02 is not the only vaccine candidate in Cuba against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This project has a sister: Soberana 01, which should conclude its 1st phase of clinical trial this year.

Besides, Cuba has other two vaccine candidates against Covid-19, which are being elaborated at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB): Abdala and Mambisa. The latter will be administered in the form of a nasal spray.