Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Virology Lecturer Prof. Dr. Under the leadership of Özkul, an evaluation meeting was held at the rectorate building regarding the project for the development of the local CCHF vaccine, for which TÜSEB provided 10 million liras of scientific and financial support.
prof. Dr. Ünüvar, in his speech here, drew attention to the fact that CCHF, which is transmitted by ticks, has turned into a serious health problem in certain regions in Turkey, especially in the summer months.
Ünüvar, who carries out the domestic CCHF vaccine studies, Prof. Dr. Reminding that Özkul was also the first person to isolate the Kovid-19 virus in Turkey, Prof. Erciyes University, who developed the Kovid-19 vaccine. Dr. He stated that Aykut Özdarendeli is also working on CCHF vaccine, and that two studies are progressing in this way.
“TOGETHER WE WILL EXPERIENCE THE PRIDE OF THIS WORK THAT WILL BRING THE DISEASE FROM THE AGENDA”
Pointing out the importance of the vaccine in the prevention of diseases and the Kovid-19 epidemic, Ünüvar said, “Our teacher Aykut Özkul is engaged in an intensive academic, research and development work for the development of a domestic vaccine against Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever. TÜSEB provided scientific and financial support to these studies of our teacher Aykut.” said.
Underlining that the state gives great support to scientific studies against vaccine-preventable diseases, Ünüvar continued his words as follows:
“Today, we are at the introductory meeting of the project, where we wrote the first lines of a success story regarding the development of a domestic CCHF vaccine. I sincerely thank TÜSEB in this context.
We always proudly talk about success stories in the defense industry. Our state also has great support in the development of health technologies. I believe that this work of our teacher Aykut will be successful. We will be proud of this work, which will hopefully remove an important disease that is on the agenda of our country from May to the end of autumn. We are very proud to be a part of this work.”
“WE BELIEVE THAT IT WILL PROVIDE LOCAL CCHF Vaccine TO BOTH our COUNTRY AND THE WORLD”
TUSEB Türkiye Vaccine Institute President Prof. Dr. Ateş Kara, on the other hand, pointed out that domestic vaccine development studies started with the TURKOVAC vaccine after many years, and drew attention to the importance of cooperation and teamwork with the academic world for the continuation of such studies.
Emphasizing that TUSEB will provide continuous scientific support for the local CCHF vaccine both in preclinical and clinical studies, Kara said, “We believe that we will achieve success with the support and help of our very valuable professors. We believe in presenting it to the world.” made its assessment.
“HIGHEST CASE NUMBER REACHED IN THE PAST 2 YEARS”
prof. Dr. Aykut Özkul also made a presentation on the development of the local CCHF vaccine at the meeting.
Explaining that traditional vaccine production technologies could not be applied against CCHF disease, and therefore they started to work on the development of new generation vaccine products, Özkul said, “CCHF is progressing with a mortality rate of approximately 5 percent in Turkey. It has been overshadowed by Kovid-19 in a two-year period, but since 2002. “We are struggling with the disease. The highest number of cases has been reached in the past 2 years. The disease progressed with approximately 1400 cases in our country and unfortunately we lost 5 percent of these cases.” he said.
Emphasizing that the disease puts about 3 billion people at risk in regions where the disease is prevalent in the world, Özkul stated that 10-15 thousand cases and approximately 500 loss of life are predicted annually in the world.
“DENOVIRUS VECTOR VACCINE PROTOTYPE IS TARGET DEVELOPMENT”
prof. Dr. Özkul stated that CCHF disease is on the WHO’s list of important infections that need the development of protective and therapeutic products, and that he started the first studies on this virus 15 years ago.
Reminding that scientific studies on the development of new generation vaccine alternatives against CCHF have been published before and these results form the basis of this study, Özkul said:
“The duration of our R&D project for the development of a domestic CCHF vaccine has been determined as 24 months. We are in cooperation as Ankara University and Hacettepe University within the scope of the project. Our team will take part in developing the vaccine, conducting a number of animal experiments and evaluating its immunological properties in different animal species with all its details.
All steps of the studies related to the dangerous virus will be carried out in biosafety laboratories. The study aims to develop an adenovirus vector vaccine prototype.”
“WE PROJECT TO COMPLETE THE PRE-CLINICAL PROCESS WITHIN A MAXIMUM 18 MONTHS”
Emphasizing that vaccine studies are long and comprehensive processes, Özkul said, “Our aim is to produce a new vaccine that will arise from the vaccines we have developed before, especially under GNP conditions, and to question whether it is suitable for clinical studies. Then, serious clinical processes will begin.” spoke his words.
Upon the press members’ question about the phase studies, Özkul said, “If the process goes as planned and there are no serious disruptions, we anticipate completing the preclinical process of the virus produced under GNP conditions within a maximum of 18 months.” shared his knowledge.
Özkul explained that clinical studies, which will begin with the evaluation of scientific committees, are a completely different process.
The meeting was attended by TÜSEB Vice President Prof. Dr. Rabia Çakır Koç, faculty deans and experts attended. (AA)