The world's second leading tobacco company, British American Tobacco (BAT), in a statement on Friday said that they have developed a potential coronavirus vaccine. British American Tobacco claims they have achieved positive results during the pre-clinical trials by using proteins from tobacco leaves, which generated a positive immune response. An approval is now awaited by the manufacturers of Lucky Strike cigarettes from the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) for the vaccine in order to proceed to testing on humans on a wider scale as part of Phase 1 trials.

There was quite a lot of chatter when the London-based British American Tobacco first announced in April that they were developing a COVID-19 vaccine using tobacco leave and added saying they could with the help of government agencies and other certified manufacturers produce anywhere between 1 million to 3 million doses per week. The race for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus has been a top priority for governments and health agencies across the world with some already given the greenlight for clinical trials and human testing. Health experts have claimed that it might take up to 12-18 months to develop a vaccine for coronavirus.

BAT had additionally presented a pre-investigative new drug application to the FDA with the agency since acknowledging the submission. Furthermore, the top cigarette maker has also stated that discussions regarding the development of a vaccine are being held with other government agencies around the world. The company has allotted funds for clinical human trials, which is expected to roll out possibly from late June while also having allocated additional equipment to increase the capacity of vaccine production. Soon after the announcement, BAT's share went up by 1.7% at 3,041 pence in afternoon trading on the London Stock Exchange.