British American Tobacco’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate from gets US FDA nod for human trials

A COVID-19 vaccine being developed by British American Tobacco from tobacco leaves has been approved for human trials by the US FDA, the maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarettes said.

The enrolment for the study is expected to start shortly, with results likely by mid-2021, the company said.

The company raised eyebrows in April when it said it was developing a COVID-19 vaccine and would be able to produce one million to three million doses a week if it had the support of government agencies and the right manufacturers.

The approval for Phase 1 trials comes at a time when Britain and the US have started rolling out vaccines made by Pfizer and German drug company BioNTech over the past two weeks.

“Moving into human trials with both our COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone,” David O’Reilly, BAT’s Director of Scientific Research said.

The COVID-19 vaccine is being developed by the company’s biotech arm Kentucky BioProcessing.