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coronavirus vaccine
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused tremendous loss of life around the world, has been keeping scientists and doctors on their toes to find a solution. Vaccination is seen as the only hope to eliminate the deadly viral disease, with many countries even breaking the norms of vaccine development to quickly bring out a preventive drug against the virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as 150 vaccine candidates are under development across the globe and around 17 of these are being tested on humans. The vaccine candidate that has grabbed the world's attention is the one that is being developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with British drugmaker AstraZeneca. It is expected to hit the market very soon.
Called AZD1222, the Oxford's potential COVID-19 vaccine is already in large-scale Phase III human trials to assess whether it can protect against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine is already being tested in healthy volunteers in South Africa, Brazil and UK. The researchers have found very good results in animals (chimpanzees). Previous two human trials also indicated a positive immune response against the virus, but the results are not released yet. Earlier this month, the developers of the vaccine said that Phase 1 data may be out by the end of July. Now, media reports say that results of the initial trials of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine could be announced today (Thursday) and it is likely to bring smiles on everybody's face.
According to a report circulating in the media world, ITV's political editor Robert Peston has claimed that positive news on COVID-19 vaccine could be published by The Lancet medical journal today. He also cited a reliable source.
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WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan had in June said that Oxford's experimental vaccine is probably the world's leading candidate and most advanced in terms of development.
Professor Adrian Hill, the director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, had also said that they are expecting the vaccine on the market by October. Professor Hill, who is leading the Oxford project, said it during a webinar of the Spanish Society of Rheumatology last month.
AstraZeneca has also entered into a partnership with seven institutions in different countries to manufacture the vaccine. The company is preparing to quickly release 30 million doses of the jab, once the final trails prove successful. Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is also said to have signed an agreement to produce one billion doses of the potential Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for India and other low-and-middle-income countries. The institute is reportedly investing $100 million on the project.
The Wall Street on Wednesday celebrated the promising early results from Moderna's experimental vaccine, mRNA-1273. The results showed that the first 45 participants who were administered the drug in the Phase 1 trial have developed antibodies to the virus. Three groups of 15 participants received two intramuscular injections, 28 days apart, of 25, 100, or 250 micrograms (mcg) of the investigational vaccine. Regarding safety, no serious adverse events were reported, according to the study authors.
The phase 3 trial of the vaccine is expected to start this month. Moderna started its phase 2 trial in May.
Meanwhile, Russia has claimed to become the first country to complete clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine on humans. The results of the trials conducted at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University proved that the vaccine is safe and effective, chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk told Russian news agency TASS on Sunday.
The potential Covid-19 vaccine is developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. The trails started on June 18
While Smolyarchuk said that the vaccine will be discharged soon, he didn't say when it would enter the commercial production stage.