Researchers from Italian biotech company claim to have ‘the first vaccine in the world’ that kills coronavirus in human cells

Scientists and researchers continue are working around the clock in the their fight against coronavirus. Last week, Pfizer announced its coronavirus vaccine could be ready for emergency use by fall. The pharmaceutical giant joined Oxford University project which started human testing on 23 April.

This week, researchers at Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Italy, announced they have a vaccine candidate that could neutralize coronavirus within human cells. They said the first injections of the DNA vaccine candidates against the Spike protein (product of the S gene) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, cause of the COVID-19 disease, have produced neutralizing antibodies in test animals.

The initial results were obtained using plasmids (the templates for LinearDNA™) to baseline results. The preliminary results from lab tests showed the antibodies created in test mice were able to stop human cells being infected with the coronavirus. The vaccine was developed by Takis Biotech in collaboration with Applied DNA Sciences Inc. Italian news agency, ANSA, quoted Takis Biotech CEO Luigi Aurisicchio as saying: “’As far as we know we are the first in the world so far to have demonstrated a neutralization of the coronavirus by a vaccine. This is the most advanced stage of testing of a candidate vaccine created in Italy. Human tests are expected after this summer.”

Takis is a Biotech Company created in November 2009 by a group of scientists from IRBM, a Research Center in near Rome, formerly part of the global network of Merck Research Laboratories (MRL). The group has more than 15 years of experience and an established track record in drug discovery in Oncology and is recognized for the conception and implementation of a number of innovative technologies.

One of the main assets of Takis is the expertise in in vivo electro-gene-transfer, which can be used for a variety of clinically useful applications, from vaccine development to somatic gene therapy. Takis pipeline include four Cancer Vaccine candidates based on this technology. Takis is also actively involved in the generation of humanized monoclonal antibodies for use in Oncology and Infectious Diseases. Takis CEO Luigi Aurisicchio revealed the team plans to trials in the fall.

In April, Takis also announced that its candidate vaccines against Covid-19 induces a strong antibody response