TEHRAN – “Pastu Covad” is the first Iranian-made coronavirus vaccine based on adenovirus that has successfully completed its animal studies, IRNA reported on Friday.

Vaccine production is done with different technologies. The first generation of vaccines relies on the complete virus particle, including the live, attenuated, and killed virus. The next generation of vaccines relies on recombinant proteins, and finally, a new generation of technology vaccines are developed based on adenovirus.

Adenoviruses are medium-sized, nonenveloped viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Adenoviruses can cause cold-like symptoms, fever, sore throat, bronchitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, and pink eye.

Preclinical studies of this vaccine have been performed in the country and its documents have been sent to the Food and Drug Administration for review, Tali’eh Sabooni, technical officer of injectable solutions and vaccines at the Pasteur Institute, said.

This vaccine will enter the human trial in the coming days, after obtaining a license from the Food and Drug Administration, she added.

The Pasteur Institute has previously managed to develop and produce Pastu Covac vaccine in cooperation with Cuba's Finlay Vaccine Institute.

It is a conjugate vaccine with two injectable doses, which consists of the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conjugated chemically to tetanus toxoid.

The results of the phase three study of this vaccine showed that in volunteers who have not yet been infected and received 2 or 3 doses, about 87 to 99 percent of people, respectively, have seen a fourfold increase in antibody.

The vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in people inoculated with three doses by 65 percent and its effectiveness in the prevention of severe disease and hospitalization was 96.5 percent.

Pastu Covac is the only homegrown vaccine available for injection in children aged 2-18.

Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said five coronavirus vaccines have been so far produced domestically.

Iran is one of the few countries that has all vaccine production platforms, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said in June 2021.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain said in September 2021 that the Organization was collecting the necessary information for the registration and certification of Iranian-made coronavirus vaccines.

FB/MG