“However, as the novel coronavirus is highly contagious and more lethal than the flu, we believe our tests should be conducted in a BSL-3 lab,” Pan said. “As the genetic sequence we got is for the whole of the virus, we had to analyze the specific genes of the spike protein, a key protein that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells,” he said. It is important to find the spike protein to develop antigens for the vaccines, as the special protein induces immune responses in humans, he said. “Now, we have four different prototypes of the antigens and will run tests on them in the NHRI’s advanced lab,” he said. Adimmune aims to maintain its goal of running an animal test in the second quarter, Pan said.

Source: Taipei Times March 02, 2020 15:56 UTC