Coronavirus vaccine update
Coronavirus vaccine update
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a worldwide quest to find a vaccine for the deadly disease. Similarly, many pharma companies are also looking for drugs that can be use in coronavirus treatment. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), presently there are 13 experimental drugs being tested on humans, while over 120 others are in the earlier stages of development.
India COVAXIN
India is making significant progress in producing indigenous coronavirus COVID 19 vaccine – Covaxin. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shot off letters to hospitals and medical institutions across India to expedite the clinical trial approvals for Covaxin. ICMR is developing Covaxin in collaboration with Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). So far, 12 clinical sites have identified and the clinical trial process is likely to begin on July 7. The clinical trial of BBV152 COVID vaccine has been termed as “top priority projects which is being monitored at the top-most level of the government”. Results of the clinical trials are likely to be launched by August 15, as per ANI report.
Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D
Zydus, a part of the Cadila Healthcare group, on Friday said its indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate – ZyCoV-D – has successfully completed pre-clinical phase and has received permission from Indian authorities to conduct human trials. “Zydus has already manufactured clinical good manufacturing practice (GMP) batches of the vaccine candidate and plans to initiate the clinical trials in July 2020 across multiple sites in India in over 1,000 subjects,” the company said. ZyCoV-D, developed at the company’s Vaccine Technology Centre in Ahmedabad, has now received permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) – Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to initiate phase I/II human clinical trials in India, Cadila Healthcare said in a regulatory filing. (PTI)
Pfizer, BioNtech
According to a study, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, tested by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and German biotech firm BioNTech SE, is safe, well-tolerated, and can generate antibodies in people. The research has been published in the preprint server medRxiv. It is, however, yet to be peer-reviewed, PTI reported today. The report describes the preliminary clinical data for the candidate vaccine — nucleoside-modified messenger RNA (modRNA), BNT162b1.
Pfizer, BioNTech
The US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and European biotechnology company BioNTech SE have joined hands to produce coronavirus covid19 vaccine. The initial experimental trial has shown that the COVID-19 vaccine is capable of generating antibodies in the patients and found as safe and well-tolerated.
Oxford
University of Oxford’s potential Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine trial has got “right sort of immune response”. A professor of vaccinology at the university said 8,000 volunteers were enrolled for the Phase III of its trial into the vaccine, AZD1222. This has been licensed to AstraZeneca. Phase III of the human trials will assess and monitor how the vaccine works in a large number of people over the age of 18, and how well the vaccine works to prevent people from becoming infected and unwell with COVID-19, as per Reuters report.
USA Moderna
US-based pharmaceutical giant Moderna Inc. has shown many promises with its probable Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine. In July, the company will start the largest phase of the clinical trials of its Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine. The top official has revealed that the results of the company’s vaccine ‘mRNA-1273’ will be out by October this year.
China
China has been developing its own Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine through a research and biotech firm, CanSino. The organization has started clinical trials. However, China’s Central Military Commission has given its approval for use in a restricted manner. Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences is co-producing the Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine.
Imperial College of London
Imperial College of London has successfully started phase I clinical trial for its Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine. The UK government is funding the research process for this vaccine. The organization is hopeful about achieving final results by the first half of next year.
Sanofi GlaxoSmithKline
Two pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline have joined together to produce a Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine. Sanofi has stated that it was hopeful of speeding the process of phase I and II from September to December. The company has promised to produce as many as 100 million vaccine doses.
Thailand
Thailand-based medical researchers have been working on developing a coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine. Chulalongkorn University’s Center of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development has yielded positive results during the animal testing phase and is hopeful of starting human clinical trials in October.