Bangavax, homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, receives US patent

Bangavax, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Globe Biotech, has received a US patent.

Globe Biotech claims the US patent is the first in the history of the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh.

Globe Biotech held a press conference at the head office of Globe Pharmaceuticals in the Tejgaon Industrial Area on Sunday.

Afterwards, Globe Biotech said in a statement that as people around the world were struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, research work began on “COVID-19” detection kits, vaccines and drugs for the needs of the nation under the overall supervision of the company's scientists Kakon Nag and Naznin Sultana.

The ‘Covid-19 mRNA’ vaccine developed in that study was approved for clinical trial by the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) and the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).

First, the complete coding sequence of the vaccine target was published in the NCBI database of the United States in 2020. Then, a research paper on Bangavax -- supposedly the world's first single-dose mRNA vaccine that was effective against Covid-19 -- was published in the US medical journal Elsevier.

The basic technology to produce the vaccine was published in the scientific reports of the UK-based journal Nature. The World Health Organization (WHO) included the mRNA vaccine developed by Globe Biotech in the list of Covid-19 vaccines in 2020.

Globe Biotech said the vaccine was proven to be safe and effective in trials on monkeys. It was also the first trial of any vaccine on monkeys in the history of Bangladesh.

According to the vaccine maker, Bangavax is an mRNA vaccine with its own proprietary basic technology and has been developed using nanotechnology and is the world's only single-dose effective Covid-19 vaccine against various variants. Using this technology, vaccines of other technologies that use mRNA can also be made.

In addition, the technology could be used to make modern medicines for incurable diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Stating the importance of the patent, Globe Biotech said that it will also play an important role in the fourth industrial revolution of Bangladesh. The role of vaccines in public health in Bangladesh is essential and using the basic technology of the patent, it is possible to produce and supply effective and safe vaccines in the country at low cost using the most modern methodology, it said.

Globe Biotech says, by producing vaccines in this way, it is possible to earn respect and a lot of foreign exchange by exporting them abroad.