As a result of almost two years of work by the group of Tarlan Mammadov, a member of the Scientific Committee on Vaccination of the Ministry of Health of Turkey, professor of Akdeniz University, a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, the cocktail vaccine against COVID-19, made from the tobacco plant Nicotiana Benthamiana, is ready for clinical trials.

Tarlan Mammadov reported that the immunogenicity of the vaccine was studied by expressing the S1, RBD, and N proteins. The group of researchers for the first time obtained (synthesized) N antigens separately, and in combination with antigens of the S1 and RBD domains. Most herbal vaccine manufacturers target the use of RBD, S1, and S proteins as antigens.

According to the scientist, up to 25 milligrams of a cocktail vaccine can be made from 1 kg of a plant, which will be enough to vaccinate 5 thousand people. T. Mamedov noted that, despite the small number of mutations in the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the nucleocapsid protein sequence remained more protected. Therefore, it was decided to develop an N + RBD cocktail vaccine.

The professor noted that research on animals has already been completed, a patent application has been filed, and they are ready to move on to clinical trials.