A 21-year-old boy will be the first volunteer to be administered a 0,5 mg dose of 'e-Vax' tomorrow, the anti-covid vaccine created by the Roman company Takis with the Monza-based Rottapharm biotech.
In fact, the first phase of human testing of this vaccine, which uses a DNA platform and is inoculated with an electroporator, is starting at San Gerardo in Monza, or rather at the Phase 1 Research Center, which is located on the tenth floor of sector A. An instrument that gives a shock that allows the DNA fragment to enter the cells. “Last December we conducted a study with the electroporator: we wanted to test the symptoms of the procedure, to be able to provide the subjects who will be enrolled in the trial with as many details as possible,” explained Marina Cazzaniga, director of the research center, in recent days. “I myself underwent the procedure, to be able to better explain what it feels like.”
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This type of vaccine “could be very important in the future” because, explained Paolo Bonfanti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at San Gerardo, there is “the possibility of modifying it by adapting it to the emergence of variants of the virus that are not sensitive to current vaccines”, not to mention that it is stable at room temperature (therefore without the need to guarantee the cold chain and have super freezers) and can “be administered many times, in the event that anti-Covid vaccinations need to be repeated every year”.
After the first vaccination, they will wait two days to see if there are any side effects, then two more volunteers will be vaccinated and, after another two days, three more. Twenty people in total and the experimentation will also start at the Spallanzani in Rome and at the Irccs Pascale in Naples. The same procedure will then be followed for higher doses (three different ones are being tested in total, the maximum of 200 milligrams, which should not require a booster). The recruitment of volunteers for phase 1 and 2 began in August, with great success. And it is not over yet, so much so that on the Asst di Monza website it is possible to download the form to register for the healthy volunteers.
Article published on 28 February 2021 - 22:08
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