BAT to Develop Coronavirus Vaccine Through US Biotech Subsidiary

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] BAT Korea announced on the 2nd that Kentucky Bioprocessing (hereinafter KBP), a US biotech subsidiary of the BAT Group, has developed a coronavirus vaccine and entered preclinical trials.

Depending on the test results, it is expected that starting as early as June, based on cooperation with government agencies, 1 to 3 million doses of the vaccine can be produced weekly. BAT explained that KBP's coronavirus vaccine development project is being pursued as a non-profit initiative.

The vaccine under development utilizes BAT's proprietary tobacco plant cultivation technology, offering broader advantages compared to existing vaccine development and production technologies.

Reynolds, BAT Group's US business entity, acquired the biotech company KBP in 2014 to utilize a special tobacco extraction technology for developing non-combustible product lines. KBP co-developed ZMapp, a drug effective against the Ebola virus, with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in 2014, and recently partially replicated the coronavirus genetic sequence to develop a potential antigen material.

BAT is currently consulting with health authorities to rapidly proceed with clinical trials using the developed vaccine and expects that, through government cooperation, production of up to 3 million doses per week will be possible.

Dr. David O'Reilly, Chief Scientific Officer at BAT, stated, "We are discussing the next steps in collaboration with the US FDA and plan to share the research results of this coronavirus vaccine development with the UK health authorities and US BARDA." He added, "KBP has continuously researched alternative uses of tobacco plants, one of which is plant-based vaccine development. BAT will leverage this technology to contribute to global efforts to halt the spread of coronavirus."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.