Multi-pronged approach on line as drug-makers race to develop Covid-19 vaccine: Top updates

Ten vaccines against Covid-19 are in the clinical trials phase. Researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca hope to have the first phase 3 data in hand this summer.

Coronavirus cases across the globe are inching toward a grim milestone. Globally, the number of Covid-19 infections will soon touch the 7 million-mark. What started with a few hundred cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, went on to take the shape of a pandemic, sparing no corners of the world.

Phials of an mRNA type vaccine candidate for the coronavirus disease are pictured at Chulalongkorn University during the development of an mRNA type vaccine for the coronavirus disease in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

With the rapid rise in the number of infections, the imminent need to arrive at a vaccine for coronavirus grows more urgent. A report published in the medical journal the Lancet describes vaccine development as “typically a long game”.

“The US Food and Drug Administration only approved the first vaccine against Ebola virus last year,” it states. However, pharmaceutical and drug-making companies across the world are leaving no stone unturned to arrive at the Covid-19 vaccine.

Ten vaccines against Covid-19 are in the clinical trials phase. Researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca hope to have the first phase 3 data in hand this summer.

“Although many infectious disease experts argue that even 18 months for a first vaccine is an incredibly aggressive schedule, a few optimists believe that hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine might be ready for roll-out by the end of 2020,” the Lancet report states.

• Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which entered into clinical trials just 66 days after SARS-CoV-2 was first sequenced, showcases the potential for nucleotide-based vaccines, the Lancet report states.

• “The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have embraced a recombinant vaccine called AZD1222 to achieve a similar effect, engineering a chimpanzee adenovirus to carry DNA for the spike antigen,” the report read.

• Other candidates like Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline are working together on a protein subunit approach. The two companies hope to start a phase 1 trial later this year.

• Biopharma major AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), among other world-wide vaccine manufacturers, to produce the vaccine currently under trial at the University of Oxford on a mass scale, if successful.

• AstraZeneca cancer drug shows promising results in the fight against Covid-19, Bloomberg reported. The study was conducted on a small group of 19 people wherein experts found that a cancer drug from AstraZeneca could be repurposed to help Covid-19 patients experiencing extreme immune reactions.

• Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Friday it was testing a plant-derived drug, AQCH, for the potential treatment of Covid-19 as part of a mid-stage trial, with results expected by October.

• Clinical trials of phytopharmaceutical ACQH began on Friday, said S Mande, director-general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. “We’re going to try it against Covid-19. It’s historic in modern medicine, especially in India. We’ve a chance to tap our traditional knowledge system and its limitless possibilities,” he said.

(With inputs from the Lancet, agencies)