Two Covid-19 vaccines from Thailand coming soon
- Plant based vaccine
Suthira Taychakhoonavudh, co-founder and CEO of Baiya Phytopharm Co, said researchers are collecting data about the safety of its plant-based “Baiya Vaccine” following the first phase of a clinical trial.
Asst Prof Suthira said no serious side effects were reported so far among the participants of the trial that began in September. Her team is also recruiting people aged 61-75 for a trial next month. She also said the second generation of the vaccine has been produced for the first-phase human trial beginning January next year.
2. mNRA vaccine
Chulalongkorn University’s Centre of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development expects to register its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, known as ChulaCOV-19, mid-next year.
Kiat Raxrungtham, head of the Covid-19 vaccine development project, said ChulaCov-19 is about to enter its third phase of human trials with jabs scheduled to be administered early next year to March.
Trial results are expected for analysis during April-May before an application is filed with the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mid-next year for emergency use approval, he said.
According to Dr Kiat, if the vaccine registration is approved, the research team is required to conduct the fourth phase trial to gather information about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness from some 30,000 recipients.
However, by the time the trial is launched next year most people will have been fully vaccinated, he said, noting that research will also be conducted on the vaccine’s effectiveness as a booster dose.
He said the research team has begun developing second- and third-generation vaccines with trials beginning on mice.
Based on data from the second-phase human trial, ChulaCov-19 is effective against several variants of Covid-19 including Delta, he said. Low fever was reported after the second jab while serious side effects such as clotting were not detected.
Dr Kiat said the research team’s goal in developing the vaccine is to produce a high-standard vaccine that is accepted by other countries and recognised by the World Health Organisation.
The government has recently approved a budget of 2.3 billion baht to support the development of the vaccine with 1.3 billion baht being earmarked for human trials with the balance to be set aside to cover materials and production costs.
About Assistant Professor Suthira Taychakhoonavudh, Ph.D.
Plant Vaccine
Contact
+668 1848 0384
suthira.t@chula.ac.th
Office of International Affairs, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Patumwan District, Bangkok 10330 Thailand
Affiliation
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Specialty & Interest
Biography
Suthira Taychakhoonavudh (BSc, MSc, PhD) is an Assistant Professor at the social and administrative pharmacy department at Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Chulalongkorn University. Suthira is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, School of Public Health, Texas, USA. She is a pharmacist by training and earned her master’s degree in Health Economics at Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University. She also has her PhD in Health Economics from the University of Texas, School of Public Health. She currently teaches Health Economics, Econometrics and Health Technology Assessment. Since joining Chulalongkorn University in 2013, Suthira has been working on the issue of access to medicine, pricing and patient access policy, managed entry agreement and patient assistance program. She has also involved in the project aiming to increase access to high cost medicine using innovative mechanism.
Awards and Honors
2019 Outstanding teaching award for young staff
2014 Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health (Iota Chapter)
Major grants awarded
Framework for pricing and patient access, The development of policy to strengthen vaccine security in Thailand
Office of Research Affairs
Chulalongkorn University
Chamchuri 5 Bld. 6th Fl., Phayathai Rd., Wangmai, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330
Tel: +66 2218 0236
Email: research@chula.ac.th
