Kentucky company developing coronavirus vaccine says it could make 3 million a week
A biopharmaceutical company in Kentucky is putting one of the state’s strongest resources — tobacco — to good use.
Kentucky BioProcessing, based in Owensboro, has joined the coronavirus vaccine race and is using tobacco to do it, according to an announcement from British American Tobacco, Kentucky BioProcessing’s parent company.
The vaccine is currently in pre-clinical testing. British American Tobacco said it hopes it can produce 1 to 3 million vaccines a week by June if the testing goes well and the company can find “the right partners and support from government agencies.”
Kentucky BioProcessing has produced test quantities of the vaccine, which may eventually be used on humans under Food and Drug Administration guidance, according to Kaelan Hollon, a Reynolds American spokesperson. Reynolds American is a British American Tobacco holding company.
Hollon said it is too early to speculate when a vaccine could be fully brought to market.
“KBP has been exploring alternative uses of the tobacco plant for some time,” Dr. David O’Reilly, director of scientific research at British American Tobacco, said in a statement. “One such alternative use is the development of plant-based vaccines. We are committed to contributing to the global effort to halt the spread of COVID-19 using this technology.”
Kentucky BioProcessing cloned a portion of COVID-19’s genetic sequence, which led to the development of a potential antigen, British American Tobacco said. The antigen causes a person’s body to produce antibodies to fight off the virus. The antigen was inserted into tobacco plants to reproduce in larger quantities, and once the plants were harvested, the antigen was purified, British American Tobacco said.
British American Tobacco said commercial company Kentucky BioProcessing intended to carry out the vaccine operation in a nonprofit manner.
The vaccine Kentucky BioProcessing has made used a proprietary fast-growing tobacco technology, British American Tobacco said. The company said that its process had several advantages over conventional vaccine production.
The process is potentially safer because tobacco plants can’t host pathogens that cause human disease, and the technique is faster because the elements in the vaccine accumulate more quickly in tobacco plants, according to British American. Furthermore, the vaccine doesn’t require refrigeration, and it could deliver immunity in one dose.
Kentucky BioProcessing was also a major player in developing Ebola treatment. The company made the promising serum ZMapp.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 11:50 AM.