Thailand’s Baiya Phytopharm accepts that its Covid-19 vaccine production is too late for the latest coronavirus surge. However, the data from its research could help lead to new vaccines for cancer and other diseases, it says.
Baiya Phytopharm is the only pharmaceutical company in Asia that has developed a plant-based vaccine for Covid using Nicotiana benthamiana leaves.
Asst Prof Suthira Taychakhoonavudh, the co-founder of Baiya Phytopharm and a professor at Chulalongkorn University, said the first generation of the vaccine passed clinical trials last year.
She said the vaccine’s second generation is built on the data amassed so far in a bid to expand its usage to treat cancer and other diseases.
The second-generation Covid vaccine is undergoing the second phase of trials, which treat it as a booster shot. About 70-100 volunteers aged 18-60 are being recruited, she said.
This phase will be completed this year. Asst Prof Suthira said the third phase would go ahead as planned, provided the company has enough money.
“The completion of the vaccine will reduce the need for imports,” she said. “The research and development into the Baiya vaccine might not have been early enough for the Covid-19 pandemic, but it will not be in vain because we are not only focusing on Covid-19. We also plan to develop vaccines and medications for other diseases.”
Baiya Phytopharm Co, a startup founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the university's Faculy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has built a factory for biological products and plant-based vaccines.
The factory can manufacture up to 5 million doses per month, or about 60 million per year. Asst Prof Suthira said the success of Baiya Phytopharm will benefit Thailand by meeting demand for vaccines in the future.
