Hipra foresees being part of the vaccination campaign this autumn

The pharmaceutical company Hipra expects to be part of the vaccination campaign this autumn. The company's R&D and Registrations director, Elia Torroella, said this Tuesday during an informative meeting in Madrid that they are "closer" every day to having a date and that they expect the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to authorize the vaccine in the coming months and that it can begin to be commercialized.

Torroella explained that although they initially expected to have the permits between May and June, the situation "changed" at a "regulatory" level and forced them to provide more information, but she has shown herself "convinced" that it will be after the summer. "Last week we met with the EMA, we already know what they want and we are working to give them all the data," she assured.

From Hipra, they highlight the "versatility" of the vaccine to adapt to new variants and the high "neutralizing" capacity it offers to those currently existing. According to the Catalan family pharmaceutical company, the process of signing a centralized purchase agreement with the EU is already "very advanced". The executive has not specified how many doses they will supply to the EU, but has insisted that Hipra has an "enormous" production capacity and that they have already produced more than 100 million doses of the active substance. "We have also bought the rest of the necessary materials to ensure that we will have enough stock," she added. Regarding the price, she said it will be "much more economical" than that of RNA vaccines, reports the agency ACN.

Torroella has also emphasized that the studies carried out so far demonstrate high effectiveness against the new variants of covid-19 and has insisted that the vaccine they have ready has a high capacity to adapt. In fact, she has announced that they are already testing new prototypes in animals and that they will soon begin a trial in children and adolescents of the vaccine with about 3,000 participants.

High immunity and few symptoms

On the other hand, she assured that high immunity has been registered in vaccinated people at six months and that the side effects it causes are very mild. The company's R&D director has emphasized that there is "much interest" in this vaccine in several European countries and that they are in conversations with others in South America and Asia. "Once we have European authorization, we will be able to request it for other countries," she added.

According to Carmen Cámara, secretary of the Spanish Society of Immunology, "the Hipra vaccine has demonstrated very high efficacy as a heterologous booster, that is, as a booster dose. And the evidence has already shown that in cases where a 3rd or 4th dose is necessary, the best thing for the immune system is for it to be truly heterologous, that is, a different vaccine technology model, because this increases protection against severe COVID disease." 

In addition to its important role as a booster dose, the Hipra vaccine has other advantages: it is stored between 2 and 8ºC, that is, in conventional refrigerators, and does not require prior reconstitution, which greatly improves and makes the work of healthcare professionals more flexible.