Tobacco Giants Join Race To Develop Coronavirus Vaccine Using Tobacco Plants

Two global tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco have joined hands with pharmaceutical companies in a bid to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, Economic Times has reported.

The tobacco companies will try and help in devising a defence strategy against the virus. The British American Tobacco has started testing a plant based vaccine on animals in the US via its subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing.

The company has announced that it has cloned a part of the virus’s genetic sequence in a bid to develop a Covid-19 antigen. This antigen was then injected into a tobacco plant whose protein was later extracted for testing.

Philip Morris is expected to start human trials for a potential vaccine in a few months via the Biotech company Medicago - which it partially owns. It grew a virus like particle in a relative plant of tobacco to develop a plant based vaccine.