Progress & updates on COVID 19 vaccine:-
Experts warned the race to prevent coronavirus, which thus far has infected over 3,728,047+ people around the world, To develop an unprecedented vaccine will take 12 – 18 months.
Vaccine developers have worked with unprecedented speed since the primary genome sequence of the COVID-19 virus was released in January. It took only 63 days from selecting the viral sequence to achieve the phase I clinical trial, during which 45 volunteers are going to be injected with three different doses over six weeks, to generate initial safety data and show that the vaccine produces an immune reaction against the viral DNA.
Other vaccine candidates are near to being tested in humans. With positive data it's hoped that the subsequent phase of testing, which might see promising candidates tested in live situations involving hundreds and later thousands of people, could happen before the top of the year.
There is likely to be a high level of attrition as experimental vaccines meet up with these rounds, but any proven safe and effective could hit the market around now next year, with the assistance of fast-tracking through the ECU Medicines Agency’s regulatory process. There are some, who argue a vaccine could arrive even sooner.
“Some producers are further along the pipeline than others, but the road to vaccine development is fraught with pitfalls then there's no guarantee that ‘first’ will necessarily mean ‘best’,” said Robin May, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Birmingham.
In total, the globe Health Organisation lists 41 research groups and pharmaceutical companies currently working to develop a vaccine.
An overview of a number of these efforts by Various organization across World:
Moderna, US
The first human trial for a vaccine began last week, supported research funded by the US National Institutes of Health at Moderna, a biotech based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moderna could also be the first frontrunner in getting its test-vaccine to humans, but “we must accompany all options, and race ahead,” says Annelise Wilder-Smith, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and medicine. “There are going to be problems scaling up anyway, therefore the more vaccine platforms we use the better.”
DIOSynVax, UK
Jonathan Heeney, head of the laboratory of viral zoonotic at Cambridge University, is CEO of DIOSynVax, a spin-out company found out in 2017. the corporate has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and therefore the UK innovation agency Innovate UK, to develop new vaccines for diseases starting from influenza to Ebola, and has now refocused all of its work on COVID-19. “It’s because what we’re doing for flu is so almost like what's required for coronavirus that we’ve been ready to move it,” Heeney said. Right now, the vaccine is being tested in mice to determine if it generates an immune reaction.
Imperial College London, UK
Robin Shattock, Head of mucosal infection and immunity within the department of communicable disease at Imperial College London, is leading another effort to make an mRNA vaccine against coronavirus. “We have the technology to develop a vaccine with a speed that’s never been realized before,” Shattock said. Because they're synthetic, instead of containing any live or attenuated virus, mRNA vaccines are expected to be faster and cheaper to manufacture.
Shattock says his team wants to travel in its pursuit for a vaccine, but would also “stand down” if a far better candidate comes along.
Oxford University, UK
Researchers led by Sarah Gilbert, head of the Jenner Institute’s influenza vaccine and emerging pathogens program, are planning an attempt on humans next month of what's touted to be the UK’s frontrunner vaccine. the merchandise uses an epidemic that's genetically modified so it's unable to duplicate in human cells, to deliver COVID-19 antigens, within the hope of promoting an immune reaction.
CureVac, Germany
CureVac, another company developing an mRNA vaccine, was last week awarded an $8 million grant by the Oslo-based Coalition for Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), a foundation established after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, for initial trials of its candidate. the corporate was also offered an €80 million loan guarantee by the European Investment Bank to fund the development of a producing facility, after an alleged attempt by President Donald Trump to accumulate the corporate or its technology (The company has denied it received any offers). The Tübingen-based company’s largest shareholder is billionaire Dietmar Hopp, who made his fortune as a co-founder of software company SAP. the opposite major investor in CureVac is that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. the corporate expects to start clinical tests by June.
BioNTech, Germany
Another German firm within the vaccine race is BioNTech, also an mRNA specialist. Last week it sealed commercialization agreements with Shanghai-based Fosun Pharmaceutical Group and Pfizer, the US pharma company, for its vaccine candidate. Founded by immunologist husband and wife team Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, the corporate is currently testing the vaccine on mice in its lab in Mainz, with trials on humans scheduled to start out in April. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in BioNTech, which in common with CureVac and Moderna, initially worked on using mRNA because of the basis of cancer vaccines.
CanSino Biologics, China
Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics is recruiting volunteers to require part during a six-month clinical test of a treatment it's developed jointly with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. This experimental vaccine, to be deployed in Wuhan, formerly the epicenter of the pandemic, is that the fastest one out of the traps in China, where up to eight other candidates are reportedly in development.
Migal Galilee Research Institute, Israel
Researchers at this Israeli lab are working to adapt a vaccine initially developed to stop respiratory illness in poultry, for the prevention of COVID-19. The government-funded institute hailed a scientific breakthrough in February when it isolated COVID-19, with human trials for its candidate expected to start out by the end of April.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, US
Inovio Pharmaceuticals has had grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CEPI, to accelerate testing of a COVID-19 vaccine which uses the DNA sequence for the spike protein by which the virus attaches to and enters human cells, to deliver viral antigens. Currently in preclinical testing on animals, the firm, which is predicated near Philadelphia but has its research center in San Diego, plans to advance into human trials before the summer. Inovio was ready to get in early COVID-19, partially because it’s already testing a vaccine for Mideast Respiratory Syndrome, another coronavirus.
Johnson & Johnson, US
Johnson & Johnson's Dutch vaccine unit, Janssen Vaccines, is applying knowledge gained within the development of vaccines for Ebola, Zika, and HIV to return up with a replacement vaccine against COVID-19. The US parent company is additionally pursuing research to search out effective treatments, testing numerous candidates for the coronavirus on animals.
Novavax, US
Maryland-based biotech Novavax has received initial funding of $4 million from CEPI to use its nanoparticle technology to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Novavax has produced and is currently assessing multiple recombinant nanoparticle vaccine candidates in animal models before advancing to clinical trials. The initiation of clinical testing is predicted in the late spring of 2020.
University of Queensland, Australia
A team of communicable disease experts at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, backed with almost $17 million from the federal and state governments, CEPI, and a foundation found out by businessman Paul Ramsay, pledges to shave six months off the time it takes to travel into human trials. consistent with Queensland’s interior minister Kate Jones, a government that means regulatory plan could see the vaccine be available in early 2021.
VIDO-InterVac, Canada
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and communicable disease Organisation-International Vaccine Centre (VIDEO-InterVac) has received C$23 million from the Canadian government to expedite work on COVID-19, following a whirlwind three-week application process. A test vaccine is being trialed on ferrets, with researchers at the lab saying it'll take a few months to understand if the candidate is promising or not. The lab, which has previously worked on vaccines for SARS and therefore the Zika virus, is additionally exploring alternatives, like antiviral medication, that would fill the gap for patients until a vaccine is out there.
AI identifies nine existing drugs that would help treat COVID-19
An artificial intelligence-driven platform for drug discovery has identified nine potential drugs that will aid against Covid-19 and 6 of them are already approved in many countries.
Singapore-based AI company Gero suggests that the urgency of things also because the legal and regulatory status of those agents makes it possible to start clinical trials of those drugs immediately, possibly within weeks.
Some of the drugs are documented for many years and are approved for human or veterinary use in several countries.
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