2023-10-18 21:01:00
As of this morning, Argentina joined the prestigious, and select, handful of countries in the world that achieved develop, test and register a highly effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. This is the end of the road for the project designed in the middle of the pandemic, in mid-2020, by a group of Conicet researchers working at the University of San Martín. With the support of the private laboratory Cassaráthe team managed to develop, and test in rigorous Phase III studies, the high capacity of the Arvac “Cecilia Grierson” vaccine capable of immunizing against the virus effectively. Now the country can locally produce a vaccine efficientsafe and economic which –in addition– can be exported to other nations.
The Argentine science leadership attended the official presentation event. In a room full of researchers, and with the head taken by the ministers of science and health –Daniel Filmus and Carla Vizzotti– and their collaborators, all the state researchers and those contributed by the Argentine laboratory Cassará, which participated in the initiative since the beginning .
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The project was truly massive since, in one phase or another, the public-private consortium ended up receiving contributions from nearly 600 scientists and professionals, from 25 diverse institutions.
“The investment It was three years of work, a state contribution of $1.7 billion“Filmus responded to this medium when asked about the amounts. And to this sources from the laboratory They added their own contribution: about US$ 7 million. Everyone hopes to be able, in the medium term, amortize these costs since this vaccine can be purchased in pesos, to reinforce the immunization of the local population.
The vaccine in detail
As explained in a press conference Juliana Cassataroproject leader Arvac and researcher at Unsam and Conicet, “getting to this point where the Anmat analyzed the test data and decided “register it“, it took a lot of team laboratory work. And then we had to complete the three phases of the medical trials. In total, we tested it on 2,094 people, all over 18 years of age, in a multicenter study, in a dozen health institutions of all country”. And a striking detail: when volunteers were called for these tests, although the testing required testing it on about 2,000 people, There were more than 10 thousand registered who applied.
For Cassataro, the results were more than satisfactory: the effectiveness from protection (measured in the seroconversion rate, which is the increase in neutralizing antibodies to the virus), It was 91%. And an outstanding detail. This figure reached 90% in those over 60 years of age, the age group most affected and at risk of coronavirus infection.
“Daniel Filmus: “We are the first in South America to achieve this scientific milestone”
As there are already many people vaccinated, Arvac was conceived as an immunization of “booster“, especially given the repeated emergence of new viral variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Another strong point is that it proved to be safe, since its application practically had no side effects significant. And it is robust because it can be stored for at least 18 months at sanitary refrigerator temperatures, between 2 and 8°C. These characteristics could allow Arvac doses, unlike the first vaccines against Covid-19, to be cheaper, easier to produce and distribute.
Economic cost of the vaccine
The brand new Arvac can be, in addition to a public health instrument, a way to save foreign currency. It is worth remembering that, according to data from the National Ministry of Health, Argentina invests about US$500 million importing vaccines, among others those that protect against Covid.
The local version of the vaccine will be purchased in pesos and, above all, can be exported around the world, especially because it is easy to adapt to the new variants of this virus that mutates periodically. And as they explained to PROFILE from the laboratory, “the final cost per dose will depend on the quantity that the buyer, for example the Ministry, orders us. But we did the numbers and we know that this vaccine, in prices per dose, is totally competitive with the current existing options in the market, based on the mRNA platform” (such as Pfizer and Moderna).
Next steps for this project
The next step is for Anmat to approve the first batch produced by the laboratory. And Minister Vizzotti announced that they are planning a vaccine tender to be able to add this option among the booster doses.
“In addition,” according to laboratory sources, “we are already in talks exploring the possibility of partnering and exporting it to countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil, among others. We even want to move forward with the Pan American Health Organization to see if we can offer it to your Revolving Fund for vaccine purchases.”
Filmus concluded the official presentation by stating that: “I think It is a historic day for Argentine science because, in just three years, we managed – for the first time – to fully think and make a high-quality vaccine against Covid-19. We are the first in South America to achieve this and, one of the most important things is that we obtained the capacity and the know-how to be able to develop, in the near future, new innovative immunizations against other pathologies”.
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