Canada approves world's first plant-based Covid-19 vaccine

Medicago's vaccine on Thursday (Feb 24) became the world's first plant-based shot approved against Covid-19 after Health Canada cleared it for use in adults.

The two-dose vaccine, which uses an adjuvant from GlaxoSmithKline to boost immune response, is the sixth Covid-19 shot to receive regulatory clearance in the country.

The Quebec-based privately held company has an agreement to supply up to 76 million doses of the vaccine to the Canadian government. Medicago said on Thursday it was committed to fulfilling the order as soon as possible.

"We're at a stage where we're ramping up capacity to meet the supply agreement," said Marc-André D’Aoust, executive vice president of innovation, development and medical affairs at Medicago.

The company will be sending material for fill/finish and packaging very soon, he added.

The home-grown vaccine, branded Covifenz, is based on a technology that uses plants in its development process to produce non-infectious particles that mimic the virus.

Medicago plans to test the shot as a booster dose and among children, D’Aoust said.

Its approval for people aged 18 to 64 years follows a late-stage study that showed the vaccine was 75.3 per cent effective against the Delta variant of the virus.

ALSO READ: Heart inflammation rates higher after Moderna Covid-19 shot than Pfizer vaccine: Canada data

The shot also showed an overall efficacy of 71 per cent against all variants of the coronavirus except Omicron, which was not prevalent when the study was underway.

Medicago is preparing to study an Omicron-tailored version of its vaccine, D’Aoust said.

Canada has approved several vaccines including those based on mRNA technology from Moderna and Pfizer. Last week, the country cleared Novavax's protein-based shot for use in adults.

Medicago intends to apply for approval of the shot in Japan and is also in talks with the US government and regulatory authorities in Europe and Asia for the vaccine, D’Aoust said.