Researchers at Warsaw s University of Technology are working on the development of Poland s anti-covid vaccine without the support of big pharmaceutical companies, relying solely on their committment and expertise. The vaccine is ready to be tested on animals, but the project still needs supporters.

„Pharmaceutical companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on developing vaccines. We did not have those amounts of resources,” said Professor Tomasz Ciach, a researcher at the Warsaw University of Technology.

Ever since the coronavirus first reared its head last year, the University of Technology has spearheaded the Polish effort of developing a vaccine together with several other universities around the country.

Just like the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna, the Polish vaccine is also a protein subunit based inoculation, which means that parts of the virus are used to trigger an immune response. When it comes to vaccinees, this response is typically weaker, so an ingredient called adjuvant is added to help create a stronger immune response.

„Although we can conduct our testing on animals at the Warsaw University, because we still have adequate resources, we need a partner in the next phase of our research; a pharmaceutical company to support us with its knowhow and experience on the field of vaccine manufacturing”, the professor said.