Efforts are underway to develop a “potential” vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Friday, Dec. 10.
DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña said they supported a study on a potential candidate for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine under the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines (VIP) program.
The DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development’s support to the study was part of the global strategy to develop a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
During his weekly report on Friday, de la Peña said the St. Luke’s Medical Center’s (SLMC) three-year study “could potentially bring the country to becoming more vaccine independent.”
"The three-year study which is being implemented by the Research and Biotechnology Group of St. Luke’s Medical Center, aims to establish the “proof of concept” by identifying antigenic peptides located at specific proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 that are capable of inducing immune responses for the development of potential vaccine for COVID-19 and its variants,” he said.
He said the research team has chosen viral-like particles or VLPs as a vaccine platform because they closely resemble viruses and are non-infectious.
He said while most vaccines were designed to activate antibodies, the SLMC’s study “will target both humoral and cell mediated arms of the adaptive immunity, therefore leading to a stronger and long-lasting immune response."
“It is hoped that this will be the start of a vigorous and progressive vaccine development program in the country.”
The DOST has been urging the Senate to act with dispatch on a bill creating the VIP.
The VIP bill seeks to institutionalize and build the VIP facilities in New Clark City in Tarlac.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed on third and final reading House Bill No. 9559 or the proposed VIP Act on July 28, two days after President Duterte asked Congress to enact a law creating the Institute.
De la Peña said while waiting for the passage of the bill, the agency is implementing six R&D projects for the VIP.
These include Isolation and Purification of Philippine Common Viruses with Medical Importance and Pandemic Potential for Antigen-Antibody Studies; Combination Therapy: Lytic Bacteriophages and Plant Extracts against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria; Detection of Food and Water-borne Bacterial Pathogens using Phage-based Diagnostics; De novo Synthesis of a non-Infective Zika Pseudovirus as Reference for Diagnostics and Vaccines Development; Development of Antibody Test Kits for COVID-19 using Enzyme Immunoassay; and Antigenic Peptides as Potential Candidates for COVID-19 Vaccine Development.