BRIEF—Brazilian deal to develop COVID-19 vaccine in Ceará

The Brazilian research institute Fiocruz has announced the signing of an agreement with the regional government and State University of Ceará for the development and production of the HH-120-Defenser vaccine against COVID-19.

UECE's Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology is responsible for developing the HH-120-Defenser vaccine. The cooperation with Fiocruz aims to make adjustments requested by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in the animal testing phase. After this step, researchers can submit documentation and request authorization for human trials.

Work on the vaccine began in April 2020, taking as a starting point existing knowledge about the attenuated avian coronavirus, similar to Sars-CoV-2.

In the study’s pre-clinical phase, the HH-120-Defenser vaccine achieved promising results in mouse tests, showing more than 90% protection.