Tobacco as a tool
Canada on verge of introducing faster, more e ective vaccine to help prevent influenza
Finally, a healthy use for tobacco. That’s the premise that Dr. Murdo Ferguson is working with as part of a study in which wild tobacco plants are being used to create an influenza vaccine.
“So, this is a beautiful new technology which provides technically, a better, quicker, longer-lasting u shot which has great potential for the world,” the Truro physician and medical researcher says. “Because any improvement in the effectiveness of a u shot will literally result in many lives saved, decreased hospitalizations and decreased burden to the public and the health-care system. So, it is nice to see that tobacco is nally giving back to our health and not taking from our health.”
Ferguson, of the Colchester Research Centre, is participating in a study involving more than 420 volunteers, half receiving this winter’s regular u shot the others injected with a vaccine developed from wild tobacco plants.
The vaccine process was created through the Plant Science Department at Mcgill University in Montreal and is being developed by Medicago, a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing e ective and competitive vaccines.
After years of research and development, the vaccine is in its nal stages of testing, before approval is sought for public use.
The new flu shot is the first plant-based vaccine in the world to be used with people and has “some very signi cant advantages,” Ferguson said.
“Here’s the advantage. Both u shots cover exactly the same thing. It’s just that this new u shot that we’re doing the study on, is plantderived, naturally-sourced, replicated by plants and… instead of taking nine months to make and distribute it, they can make it in less than two months.”
Under the method being tested, wild tobacco plants are permeated with virus particles that are then put through a normal grow op using ideal nutrition and lighting.
“And as the wild tobacco plants grow, the virus particles are replicated by the plant’s DNA in the millions and millions and millions,” Ferguson said. “So, each wild tobacco plant becomes a little factory producing identical copies of each virus particle, without the (influenza) DNA.
e plants are then processed every several weeks by mulching and purifying them, removing the water and separating out the virus particles.
“So, in other words, the wild tobacco plants have been factories producing high-volume, virus-like particles,” he said. “ ey then harvest the plants and remove all the virus particles that have been replicated and produced and use them in a u shot.”
The virus is no longer contagious because it was killed before being introduced to the wild tobacco plants.
The selection for a u shot in a given year comes from the World Health Organization, which runs a global surveillance program in which they send scientists to di erent parts of the world when a new u emerges, Ferguson said.
If proven successful, the new flu shot created by the Mcgill researchers could also enable the international medical community to “respond very rapidly” to any future pandemic or u-generated crisis, Ferguson said.
“Both u shots cover the same four strains of influenza, however, in the future, once this u shot is fully licenced and available for sale in Canada and around the world, they will be able to respond much quicker to the emerging strains of influenza because they’re able to make it four times quicker than the regular process.”
Ferguson’s research facility is the only one east of Quebec in which the study is being conducted. He is expecting to have the full results of his study by the end of April.
In addition to other sites in Canada, the new u shot is also being tested in the United States, Finland, Estonia, Germany and Thailand and will involve more than 12,000 volunteers before it is completed.
“ is is a fascinating technology and it’s a complete paradigm shift on how to make vaccines,” Ferguson said. “So, it’s a huge global effort to try and demonstrate the effectiveness and safety and hopefully superiority of the new Canadian/quebec-based u shot.”
And to answer a question from at least one of his test subjects – no, the tobacco-based vaccine will not instill any urges to take up smoking.