The Ukrainian Research Foundation has funded on a competitive basis the development of two vaccines against COVID-19, the third development is financed by business, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko said in an interview with Segodnya newspaper.
The deputy minister said that the fund finances the development of the Institute of Cell Biology in Lviv, headed by Academician Andriy Sybirny.
“They are developing a vaccine where the coronavirus protein is grown on yeast. Now scientists are conducting research in laboratory conditions until September. And then the process of making a dosage form and conducting preclinical studies, first in animals, will begin,” he said.
The second vaccine, according to Liashko, is being developed at the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, which is headed by Academician Serhiy Komissarenko.
“A vaccine is being developed there on a similar principle, but using a different technology. The result is expected in the autumn. The institute has also expressed its readiness to develop its own mRNA vaccine. Now they are looking for an opportunity to do this, including on the basis of domestic factories for the production of protein substances,” he said.
Liashko said that the third vaccine is the development of Mykhailo Favorov and the Diaproph-Med company, which is not financed by the state.
“They have declared that they have neutralized the virus on their cells. They are currently at the stage of making a dosage form to begin clinical trials,” he said.
The Deputy Minister also said that the Ministry of Health has held talks with several embassies and is awaiting certain decisions on the possibility of transferring technologies for the production of vaccines from COVID-19 in Ukraine.
