With countries around the world reporting growing numbers of COVID-19 cases signaling approaching the second wave of the global pandemic, the race for a safe and effective vaccine that would put a stop to this unprecedented health crisis and bring a fortune to its developers has become tighter than ever
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2020) With countries around the world reporting growing numbers of COVID-19 cases signaling approaching the second wave of the global pandemic, the race for a safe and effective vaccine that would put a stop to this unprecedented health crisis and bring a fortune to its developers has become tighter than ever.
WHO's COVID-19 register currently involves 24 candidate vaccines that have already launched trials on humans and another 142 that are yet at the stage of preclinical evaluation. Sputnik has compiled everything that is known to date about vaccine candidates that are said to be at forefront of the race.
ASTRAZENECA, OXFORD UNIVERSITY SECURE SUPPLY CONTRACTS
An adenoviral vaccine, jointly developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, is one of only two vaccines to reach the final stage of clinical evaluation. The vaccine has been recognized as a leading candidate by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), in late June.
The company is now running Phase 3 trials in Brazil and South Africa and plans to conduct them in the United States as well later in several weeks.
The pharmaceutical firm said in June that it would supply up to 2 billion doses of the vaccine worldwide. It has already struck deals with the UK government, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. It has also signed a deal with Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm and South Korea's SK Bioscience to produce the vaccine.
Developers are hoping to roll out the vaccine by the end of the year.
On Monday, scientists from Oxford University published the results of the first phase of clinical trials conducted on 1,077 participants. Early findings have shown that the vaccine stimulates the production of both antibodies and virus-fighting T-cells. Michael Ryan, the executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, lauded the results as positive but warned that the finish line in this race for a vaccine was still far ahead.
"Again, there is a long way to go. These are phase one studies. We need to move into larger-scale real-world trials, but it is good to see more data and more products moving into this very important phase of vaccine discovery," he told a media briefing on Monday.
CHINA'S SINOVAC MOVES TO LATE-STAGE VACCINE TRIALS IN BRAZIL, BANGLADESH, INDONESIA
Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinovac, which is developing an inactivated vaccine, is another leader in the race for a vaccine against the disease that has already killed more than 600,000 people globally. In mid-June, the company reported positive preliminary data from the phase 1/2 clinical trials, saying that
Sinovac has started Phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil. Bangladesh and Indonesia will also host trials of the company's CoronaVac vaccine.
MODERNA PREPPING FOR FINAL STAGE OF CLINICAL TRIALS
Another frontrunner is a vaccine using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology developed by the US biotech company Moderna.
The company published the first results of its clinical trials last week saying that the vaccine generated a robust immune response. Now the company is preparing for the final, Phase 3 clinical trials involving 30,000 subjects later in July. Participants will receive two 100 microgram doses of the experimental vaccine.
The company plans to produce between 500 million-1 billion doses annually.
CHINA'S CANSINO, PFIZER AND GERMANY'S BIONTECH REVEAL PROMISING STUDY RESULTS
Two other groups of developers that are in earlier stages of human trials also revealed promising results earlier this month.
On Monday, China's CanSino Biologics, which is developing an adenovirus vectored COVID-19 vaccine together with the Chinese academy of Military Medical Sciences, published results of its phase I clinical trials in the Lancet medical journal. According to the publication, the vaccine was safe and induced neutralizing antibodies.
The Chinese government has already approved the vaccine for military use. CanSino said it is now in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia on running Phase 3 clinical trials.
Results of the early-stage trials of an mRNA vaccine developed by German biotechnological company BioNTech in cooperation with the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer showed that volunteers that received two of the 10 or 30 microgram doses smaller than dosages chosen by Moderna for its late-stage studies developed a promising immune response. The UK government signed a deal with the duo to secure 30 million doses of the vaccine should it prove to be efficient.
RUSSIA COMPLETES PHASE 1 TRIALS, PLANS TO LAUNCH VACCINE PRODUCTION BY FALL
An adenovirus vector-based vaccine, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, has been undergoing clinical trials at two institutions: the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital and the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Both have discharged all volunteers of early-stage trials earlier this week.
According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev, the Phase 2 trials are expected to be completed on August 3. Afterward, the third phase will start in Russia and some other countries simultaneously. The fund's head specified that middle Eastern countries will be among those where Phase 3 clinical trials of the Russian vaccine will be run.
Though the Gamaleya Institute has yet to publish results of its first stage trials, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that he expects the vaccine to be registered in August. Russia may begin production of the vaccine the same month, according to Dmitriev. The official also said that RDIF is expected to have up to 200 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year, thanks to the partnership with several countries. Of these, 30 million doses will be produced in Russia, and the rest with the help of international partners.
Russia's push to develop a vaccine has become a center of media attention in the past days, but not in a positive way. Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that members of Russia's "business and political elite" were given a shot of the experimental vaccine as early as in April.
Meanwhile, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre announced on Thursday that a joint operation with the US and Canada had uncovered that Russian cyberactors, who operate "almost certainly" as part of Russian intelligence services, were trying to steal valuable information from the three countries' vaccine researchers.
Both claims are denied by Russia.
