Hacettepe University's Vaccine Institute, which is Türkiye's first vaccine institute, has completed preclinical studies on a "synthetic peptide"-based vaccine that is easily adaptable to new variants of COVID-19.
Institute's Faculty Member Associate Dr. Semra Aydın said, "We are evaluating the vaccine's effectiveness against omicron's BA.4, BA.5 variants; we hope to move to the clinical stage soon. With these studies, vaccine production culture and infrastructures are reestablished in our country."
The institute was established in 2018 to develop and produce domestic vaccines and determine the country's vaccine policies. The center carries out all stages, from development to production of domestic vaccines, in five separate units.
The institute, which uses world-class devices, also undertakes the task of training scientists to take part in vaccine production.
Giving information about the studies, Dr. Aydın explained that the institute, which was established at the request of YÖK (Türkiye's Higher Education Commission), also undertakes the mission of raising awareness about vaccines and educating the scientists that the country needs.
Dr. Aydın remarked, referring to developed nations like the U.S., Switzerland, and France, "our preparations for enrollment of master's and doctorate programs in the vaccine studies have also been finished." She then added that the institute would offer master's and doctorate programs in vaccine studies, and admissions will probably be announced in January 2023. "We will plan the necessary experimental investigations and recruit qualified faculty."
The institute conducts joint studies with stakeholders such as the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye, the Presidency of Turkish Health Institutes (TÜSEB), and the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency. Dr. Aydın said that she believes many successful projects will emerge in the near future regarding vaccine production.
She reminded that with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies on the TÜSEB-supported synthetic peptide vaccine were started at the institute and positive results were obtained from the animal experiments of the vaccine, which was first developed over the Wuhan variant. "Now, we are developing the same study to include other variants. In other words, we are evaluating the vaccine's efficacy against delta, omicron's BA.4, BA.5 variants. The formulations we have developed for these variants are currently being studied on experimental animals; preclinical studies are in the process of being completed. We hope to enter the clinical stage soon. So far, our results have been very positive; we have achieved antibody formation in our formulations around three times compared to the control group."
The peptide vaccines, which are easier to adapt to new variants, are defined as "vaccines developed to create immunity against a specific pathogen and synthetically mimics a certain part of the protein possessed by the pathogen."
She pointed out that "it's late for domestic vaccine studies. Is it lagging? Such perceptions can occur, emphasizing that the situation should not be perceived as such."
Explaining that all the COVID-19 vaccines available are produced according to the first Wuhan variant and that the effectiveness of these vaccines has decreased a little due to the emergence of many variants, Aydın said, "these studies also enabled the resumption of vaccine production in Türkiye. A vaccine production culture and related infrastructures are being formed in our country. In addition, our vaccine studies will be very useful in the fight against ongoing infections. Serious awareness has been raised about vaccine production in our country. Then, we hope to move to a period where all childhood vaccines are produced in our country and our young people are actively involved in vaccine R&D and production studies."
