CoVLP

CoVLP is a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). It is a coronavirus virus-like particle vaccine grown in the Australian weed, "Nicotiana benthamiana".
The Medicago method to manufacture CoVLP is a "molecular farming" technology regarded as rapid, low-cost, and safe. It has been proposed specifically for production of COVID-19 vaccines.
As of January 2021, the Medicago CoVLP vaccine candidate was in a Phase II-III clinical trial in Canada and the United States, involving 30,918 participants.
Technology.
CoVLP is an example of a virus-like particle vaccine, consisting of a molecular complex which closely resembles a virus, but is non-infectious because its contains no viral genetic material. It uses recombinant spike proteins derived from SARS-CoV-2.
The virus-like particles are produced by creating a bacterium engineered with genes of the virus, then introducing the bacteria into "Nicotiana benthamiana" plants. The plants take up the bacteria virus-derived generic material, producing in its leaves the virus-like particles, which are then harvested and extracted.
In use since the 1990s, the method of using a plant like "N. benthamiana" has been called "molecular farming" or a "plant-based factory", having vaccine manufacturing advantages of rapid, low-cost production of proteins, large scalability for production, and safety of using plants for pharmaceutical production. It has been proposed specifically for production of COVID-19 vaccines.
Development.
Medicago is developing the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CoVLP, in collaboration with the governments of Canada and Quebec, and by using an adjuvant manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The GSK adjuvant is intended to enhance the immune response to CoVLP, reducing the amount of antigen required per dose, thereby facilitating mass production of vaccine doses.
Clinical research.
Phase I.
Beginning in August 2020, coVLP was in a Phase I clinical trial at two locations in Quebec to evaluate its safety and immune response.
Phase II-III.
In November 2020, Medicago-GSK started a Phase II-III clinical trial for CoVLP, enrolling 30,918 participants in three Canadian provinces and three locations in the United States. The Phase II-III trial has a primary completion date of December 2021 and the estimated completion date of April 2022. Phase III of the clinical trial was started on 16 March 2021 with the same number of participants.