Canadian-made vaccines are in development, utilizing new genetic technology

The vaccine being developed in Vancouver by PNI utilizes mRNA, meaning it is a class of vaccine that carries genetic instructions to trigger the body’s immune system to produce antibodies that can fight against SARS-CoV-2.

The project is still in a pre-clinical stage, but Canadian vaccine development such as this helps with future pandemic preparedness, building capacity and capability here at home. The federal government has invested $18.2 million to fund the vaccine through to clinical trials.

Government investment has also been made in Medicago, a Quebec City company currently developing a plant-based vaccine, as well as a large-scale production facility.

Many top pharmaceutical companies were looking into mRNA vaccine efficacy before the arrival of COVID-19. The advantage of mRNA medicines is they are fully synthetic and can be produced in laboratories in large amounts. They also can be more effective than traditional vaccines because they produce both antibodies and immune killer cells.

Source: Vancouver Sun