They Developed Their Coronavirus Vaccine in Salks Shadow – The Wall Street Journal

Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine at a University of Pittsburgh lab. The deadly disease that crippled infants disappeared almost overnight, and Salk became a hero. He wasnt Steel Citys only history-making physician. Thomas Starzl, who performed the first liver transplant in 1963, joined the Pitt faculty in 1981.

As the world faces another terrifying disease, Pitt medical scientists are again at work on a potentially revolutionary vaccine. Louis Falo and Andrea Gambotto, respectively a dermatologist and a surgeon, have developed a Covid-19 inoculation that rapidly produces large numbers of coronavirus antibodies when injected in mice. A peer-reviewed paper describing their work appeared in the journal EBioMedicine, which is published by The Lancet. They await approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct human trials on their vaccine candidate, which is delivered via a unique skin patch containing 400 tiny needles.

This is a collision of two stories, Dr. Falo says. Weve been developing the delivery technologies for this for the past several years and working with Dr. Gambotto in trying to use the skin as the ideal target for vaccine delivery. While we were doing that, Dr. Gambotto has been working on SARS and MERS. The two physicians labs are next door to each other.

Both SARS and MERS are caused by coronaviruses. So we had experience in studying both SARS-CoV in 2003 and MERS-CoV in 2014. We knew how to fight this new virus, said Dr. Gambotto. That work, he says, made the development process for the current pandemic virus faster.

Neither physician fits the stereotype of the dry, serious scientist. Both men are gregarious and reflect the personality of the city where they work. Dr. Falo grew up in suburban Greensburg. He earned his bachelors in biochemistry and chemistry at Pitt before heading to Harvard Medical School. The plan was always to return to Pitt, he says with his distinct Western Pennsylvania twang. Most people probably dont realize that Pitt is ranked among the top three or four medical centers in terms of funding from the NIH for research. But what really sets it apart is the collaborative environment. ... Its a big-time medical center with a small-town personality.

A native of Bari, Italy, Dr. Gambotto fell in love with Pittsburgh during what was supposed to be a six-month research rotation. They were a really long six months, because 25 years later Im still here, he says, his southern Italian accent thick and lyrical. He and his wife were married at La Prima Coffee shop in the citys Strip District. Thank God I didnt become a gynecologist, he says. My father was a gynecologist, and everybody in my family was. I stopped the tradition, and now I deliver viruses instead of babies.

Thanks to their previous collaborations on vaccine-platform development, the twin teams of Dr. Falo and Dr. Gambotto were able to generate their new potential vaccine, which they call PittCoVac, in a mere seven days. As they wait for the FDAs green light, Dr. Falo says theyre tackling two issues. One is the clinical testing and regulatory process. The other one is the scalability. So can you make a lot of thesemillions, billionsto distribute across the world?

It helps that the vaccine doesnt require refrigeration. That means that we can actually put these in boxes just like Band-Aids, Dr. Falo says, store them, ship them, distribute them globally, which is really important for underdeveloped countries who dont have the means of keeping vaccines cold the entire time.

The regulatory issue is out of their hands. Dr. Falo says the FDA is working as fast as it can while maintaining safety. Weve started that process. Were exchanging data with them, describing what we have, how we make the vaccine, and their experts are evaluating that data to determine whether this vaccine is safe to put into patients.

The University of Pittsburgh is still better known for its football team than for its scientists. But that could change if this vaccine candidate succeeds and beats back the coronavirus. If things go as planned, the names Falo and Gambotto could be as well-known as Jonas Salk.

Ms. Zito is a reporter for the Washington Examiner, a columnist for the New York Post, and a co-author of The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.

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They Developed Their Coronavirus Vaccine in Salks Shadow - The Wall Street Journal