Serb man heads Swiss team that makes "rocket" vaccine against corona: Trials in our country as well

The Swiss company Swiss Rockets, which deals in research in the field of medicine, is in the race to produce a vaccine against coronavirus, and the way its scientists will produce it will make them absolutely stand out from others, which is why their vaccine is expected to be the most effective. It is is referred to as the rocket vaccine, and our man is at the head of the team that "pilots" it. Pre-clinical trials have already begun, they will last for eight months, and exclusively for Telegraf.rs, Dr. Vladimir Cmiljanovic, CEO and chairman of the board, explains that citizens in Serbia will be included in clinical studies.

Cmiljanovic, at the time when a statement is being sent to the world in 11 languages ​​regarding this project called the rocket vaccine, explains for Telegraf.rs that they are making a vaccine using a unique technology. They produced a real coronavirus synthetically, weakened it and put it into this injection.

"The RVH-13 vaccine is the next generation of the coronavirus vaccine. This first generation will not be efficient enough because only one coronavirus protein is used in the first generation. However, that is not enough because coronavirus also uses its other proteins with which it infects healthy cells, and with which it hides from the immune system. This adenovirus technology is used by the English, Russians and the Chinese, while the Americans use another. They insert the genome, the DNA information, into human cells, which then produce only part of that viral spike protein from coronavirus, then antibodies are created, and when the real virus arrives, the antibody recognizes it. However, that is not enough, because the virus uses other proteins as well. The question is whether the immune system will react and for how long," Cmiljanovic explains for Telegraf.rs.

Unlike others, this company uses the traditional method, which no one else has been able to use so far.

• Why?

- Because no one has managed to produce the virus synthetically so far, and we are now the first in the world to do that. The best vaccines, traditionally, are those that use the same virus that causes the disease, except that those vaccines contain a weakened virus. We succeeded. We managed to produce the virus synthetically, and then we weakened it by eliminating the proteins which it uses to multiply in the body.

- The pre-clinical phase of the trials has begun. We are still testing the toxicity of the vaccine on various animals, and we will complete these pre-clinical studies within 8 months. Then we start with clinical studies, which should also last 8 months. We need a total of 16 rocket months to complete the development of the vaccine.

• Does that mean that after, as you say, 16 rocket month, we can expect the vaccine to be put into use?

- That's right. And, I want to give Serbia and Switzerland faster access to the vaccine, by organizing clinical trials in both Serbia and Switzerland.

• Who will be able to participate in clinical trials, is the age limit known?

- We are now discussing this with experts, but we will most likely take people who are older than 60. This age group is most at risk from coronavirus. That's why we want to cover them first. The goal is to have as many people as possible. We would cover the whole of Serbia and Switzerland, and then the rest of Europe, and then the whole of America and Latin America, and the whole of Africa. We have an incredible network of clinical centers around the world that other pharma companies do not, that's why we named the whole project the rocket vaccine. Rocketvax with a Serbian pilot.

- So far, no one has managed to come up with such technology, to create real coronavirus, then to weaken it, while it is still alive. There are dead and living viruses. Dead are those in which all living proteins are destroyed at a high temperature. In that case, it has proteins that the immune system recognizes, but it cannot infect a healthy cell inside the human body.

- Live viruses can infect, which is even better, because then we have a double immune system that reacts. We have our virus that is recognized by the immune system. Our virus, since it is alive, infects a healthy cell in the first cycle, and when that happens, it is programmed that nothing can reproduce anymore. That's how we programmed it. That’s a big deal, because then we have an immune system that recognizes the virus before it infects a healthy cell and an immune system that is further activated when it sees that a healthy cell is infected with that virus. It should be the safest and most effective vaccine to date.

• Will you receive it?

- I will be the first to receive it, but first I have to get the approval of the Swiss state, but I should be the first to receive it.

We are publishing this interview at the moment when the company Swiss Rockets issued a statement regarding this project in 11 global languages.

It states that the company has founded the company ROCKETVAX, which will develop the next generation vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, and that the rapid development of an effective and safe vaccine is their main priority.

Cmiljanovic says that the development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine could be more complex than previously thought, and reiterates that the first generation of vaccines may not provide long-term and effective protection needed to end the negative effects of the global SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic.

"A number of major candidates for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine use other viruses, such as adenoviruses, labeled with only one coronavirus protein, the so-called pointed protein necessary for the virus to enter the cell. However, it is unlikely that these vaccines will achieve strong and long-lasting protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We believe in the importance of developing vaccines that cover as many SARS-CoV-2 proteins as possible, but without any pathogenic potential,"  said Dr. Cmiljanovic.

Professor Dr. Thomas Klimkait, a virologist at the University of Basel and pre-clinical development project manager at RocketVax, explains that they are developing the entire SARS-CoV-2 virus, whose replication is blocked as an innovative next-generation vaccine that introduces into the human immune system all the basic components of the protein through the viral particle.

New methods are used in the production of the active ingredient. The gene sequence of the desired artificial virus genome, optimized for the immune response, was created with the help of enormous computing power and artificial intelligence. The genome constructed in this way lacks one basic element of the virus necessary for replication.

This element is provided by the human cell producer, providing the entire virus particle in the laboratory. The "artificial virus" can be produced in large quantities for use as a vaccine. This technology enables rapid production of different genomic sequences, which enables the production of a vaccine with a single sequence or a mixture of virus sequences. It also allows the introduction of all relevant SARS-CoV-2 mutations that could occur in the future.

The vaccine will be developed together with the Gigabases society and a consortium of experts from several leading Swiss universities and institutes.

(Telegraf.rs)