Stage 3 trials of Soberana 02 vaccine candidate starts today in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 8 (ACN) Dagmar Garcia Rivera, director of research at the Finlay Institute of Vaccines, reported today on Twitter that the weather conditions in Havana did not stop the beginning of phase 3 trials of the Cuban anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Soberana 02, in the early hours of Monday morning in the capital.

The head of the Finlay Institute said that since 8:00 am Havana's vaccination centers have already reported the first vaccinated patients.

The Business Group of the Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Industries of Cuba (BioCubaFarma) pointed out on the same social media that workers from the Havana Drugstore have been distributing Soberana 02 to clinical sites in the capital since early morning hours.

The Cuban anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate Soberana 02 started its initial phase 1 trials on October 2020, entered phase 2 in December and, after obtaining and demonstrating good immunogenicity results, on March 3 it received authorization to move on to phase 3.

During this phase clinical trial, laboratory tests will be performed on cells in culture that are infected with the virus, using serum from vaccinated patients; if antibodies are identified that prevent the virus from infecting the cells, then the presence of neutralizing antibodies is established.