SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Butantan biomedical institute has developed a potential COVID-19 vaccine and on Friday will ask for regulatory approval to begin human trials, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The potential new vaccine, Butanvac, was first reported by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. An announcement is expected on Friday.
The sources said Butantan plans to test the vaccine on 1,800 volunteers over two phases.
The vaccine will be 100% developed in Brazil by an international consortium.
Vietnam and Thailand are part of the consortium, Folha reported.
The sources said Butantan expects to start production in May to produced this vaccine in large scale.
Butantan already produces the Coronavac vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac and has delivered 27.8 million doses to the Brazilian government.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes, writing by Carolina Mandl)
