A drug and vaccine candidate that can also be used in the form of a protective spray against COVID-19 has been developed by Akdeniz University in Turkey’s southern Antalya province, reports Hürriyet Daily News.

The basis for the drug was a protein produced on the leaves of a tobacco plant species called "Nicotiana benthamiana" using "Transient Plant Expression System". Dr Tarlan Mammedov, a member of the university's Faculty of Agriculture and also a member of the Vaccine Science Board of the Biotechnology Institute of the Presidency of the Turkish Institutes of Health, produced the drug together with his team.
Mammedov said they are working on "angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)" which, when used as a spray, is of great importance in preventing the virus from entering the cell. "With the Transient Plant Expression System, we have achieved a high rate of production of this enzyme. These proteins, which we produce from the plant, can be used in treatment in both spray and injection forms,” he said. According to the report, the drug can be released within four months if the financial source is provided.
Mammedov noted that they have also reached an important stage in vaccine trials. “We have produced several vaccine candidates based on recombinant protein. (…) Animal tests showed that these antigens produced high titer antibodies in mice. This suggests that the proteins they produce in the plant constitute a promising vaccine candidate.”