BronxBull wrote: To keep the coronavirus pandemic under control, disciplined testing and strict restrictions on community contact now seem to be the best recipe, hopefully slowing it down to a manageable pace and suppressing the spread of the virus pretty slowly. However, long-term reassurance can only be provided by vaccination and the flock immunity it creates - the only problem is that vaccination against the new coronavirus does not yet exist. At least for now, because scientists are working with steam power to develop the vaccine in dozens of research labs around the world, the work began virtually the moment the hitherto unknown virus was identified in China. Researchers are competing not only with the coronavirus but also with each other, and vaccines are being made at a faster pace than ever before. However, according to the present situation, it is still necessary to wait at least one and a half years before the final vaccination, which can be applied widely and widely.
However, the developments are promising, more potential vaccines have already been tested in humans, and more candidates will soon enter the clinical trials phase. A significant proportion of them will never be a vaccine, but one of which will help us to know once and for all the threat of the new coronavirus that is causing the current epidemic.
Small vaccine inventory
So many people are working on some kind of vaccine, and events are going so fast that it is already difficult to keep track of what is happening on the vaccine front. Therefore, we have now gathered all the vaccine candidates in preparation.
It is difficult to see clearly that there is no official, all-encompassing database of vaccines in preparation. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains a list, the latest edition of which [ pdf ] is April 4, but it is far from complete. These 63 vaccines are counted (although the WHO itself writes 62, don’t believe it, we counted, it has 63 on it). There is a broader and more recent list than this: a U.S. nonprofit called the Milken Institute regularly monitors the state of development of coronavirus vaccines and treatments in a regularly updated summary . At the time of writing, there are 79 vaccines (including 63 registered by the WHO) in the latest edition of 8 April [ pdf ].
It’s so much to list, it’s long, so we’ll first highlight the 17 that go ahead because they’ve either started testing them on humans, or we’ve got when they’re going to. Then, grouped by their type, we also look at the other vaccines to get a complete picture of which parts of the world are working to stop the coronavirus, where they are experimenting, and which is how.
- When can I be vaccinated against the new coronavirus?
- Who works like this, and where are these developments?
There are those who no longer have questions, And there are those who read the Index.
But first, let’s run briefly through what types of vaccines might come up at all, and what phases they’ll have to fight through to get them out once in the hands of doctors and on the shelves of pharmacies. (If you're not interested, feel free to scroll down to the "Let's get vaccines!" Section.) Okay, vaccine, but what?
The essence of vaccines is that they give the immune system a taste of a given pathogen, so that even if it encounters it live, it is ready to receive it and can take action against it immediately. However, this goal can be achieved in several ways . Here we now look at the types that occur among vaccine candidates developed against the new coronavirus.
The vaccine may contain
- live, attenuated virus : the viruses are still alive but are so weakened in the vaccine that they still elicit the necessary immune response but no longer cause serious disease (at least in healthy immune systems);
- inactivated virus : the pathogen killed in the vaccine is included, making it slightly less effective, but also at lower risk than live viral vaccines;
- a subunit of the virus : not the whole virus but only the subunit responsible for eliciting an immune response, typically a protein in the case of a coronavirus, is incorporated into the vaccine;
- a viral vector : the genes of a dangerous virus are introduced into cells by another virus that is harmless on its own to produce the antigen itself (that is, the substance in the virus that triggers an immune response in the infected host);
- viral-like particles (VLPs) : molecules that are very similar to the virus are introduced into the vaccine, only they are not infectious because they do not contain the genetic material needed to do so.
- DNA : it is not the antigen that triggers the immune response itself that is delivered, but the part of the DNA in the virus that allows the host's own organism to produce the antigen for the virus, and then the immune system produces antibodies (ie antibodies) against it;
- RNA : works on a similar principle to the DNA-based solution, except that the DNA encoding the antigen protein itself, but the messenger RNA (mRNA) that mediates the information, enters the cells of the host to facilitate the synthesis of the antigen and thus the production of antibodies. ;
DNA and RNA-based vaccines are very promising, but they are still a new technology. Their advantage is that they can be manufactured much easier and faster, but such a vaccine has not yet been approved for human use (some have already been approved for animal diseases).
The breakdown of vaccines against the new coronavirus is as follows:
From the design desk to the pharmacy
Vaccines have a long and bumpy road to go before they can be put into practice. The main stations are broadly:
- The preclinical phase includes everything that happens before human experiments. First, vaccine design: they study the pathogen, choose the method by which the immune system is prepared for it, and a vaccine is developed for it.
- The effectiveness and safety of the new vaccine will first be tested in a laboratory and in animal experiments.
- Then come the clinical trials in which the vaccine is also tested on humans. These have three phases. In the first, they only involve a small test group of healthy volunteers to test what the vaccine knows and what side effects it may have.
- In the second clinical phase, a small group is still involved, but patients are already being involved and a more in-depth study of how the vaccine works and whether it is worth administering it is being carried out.
- In the third phase of clinical trials, the vaccine is already being tested in many more patients so that it can be monitored under natural conditions.
- If all three clinical phases are successful, authorization may come, during which the pharmaceutical authorities will review the research and test results and decide whether to place the product on the market. If you get a green light, production can begin.
- Our topic is less affected now, but the tests are not yet complete with the launch. In a fourth clinical phase, the vaccine is monitored after it has been used to assess its long-term effectiveness and to detect any rare side effects.
This process can traditionally take up to a decade. Now, in view of the situation, they are trying to speed it up, but this means first and foremost removing bureaucratic obstacles, not failing to test, because a delicate balance needs to be struck between speed and safety and efficiency. However, there is still time to save. For example, one of the most promising coronavirus vaccine developers, a biotechnology company called Moderna, has missed the one-on-one phase of animal testing.
Under the urgent circumstances, rapid progress is also aided by the fact that several laboratories have already started working on the vaccine during the SARS and MERS epidemics, so the results and methods at the time can now be warmed up to the new coronavirus, as well as general biotechnological advances in recent years.
Let's look at vaccines!
Let’s first look at what we know about vaccines that have already begun to be tested on humans. According to the WHO list, there are two, but in fact, three have already reached clinical trials: one Chinese, one American, and one US-Chinese joint development. These vaccines are the most advanced now, but no one knows which of them can be vaccinated at the earliest:
- The world’s first new coronavirus vaccine to be licensed for clinical trials was developed by Moderna of the United States and the American Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The first phase began on March 3, at three U.S. locations with 45 subjects, and will end next June. The vaccine is RNA based. It is common for an experimental vaccine to be built on a platform on which vaccines developed against other pathogens are also based. This vaccine is based on a platform with which many other pathogens are being tested in addition to the coronavirus. The development is also supported by the CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness), an epidemiological coalition funded by several governments and nonprofits, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Development by CanSino Biologics in China and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology uses a viral vector, including a type of adonovirus. This vaccine is based on a common platform with an vaccine against the Ebola virus. The first phase of the clinical trials began on March 16 in Wuhan, China, with 108 participants and will run until December.
- The DNA-based vaccine from Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the US and Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology in China is based on a common platform against Lassa virus, Nipah virus, HIV, Eboviruses, including Ebola viruses, HPV, Zika virus and Hepatitis B developed vaccines. It entered its first phase on April 3 , which will end as early as November this year. It is being tested at two U.S. sites on 40 subjects, with the first results expected by the end of the summer. Sponsors include CEPI and the Gates Foundation.
Inovio vaccination is the third to reach the clinical phase. The first results are expected by the end of the summer.
In addition to the three vaccines that have already been tested in humans, we know of an additional 14 vaccines that could also enter the first phase in a short time. Let us also look at these in the order in which clinical trials are expected to begin, in brief:
- A clinical trial of a viral vector-based vaccine at the University of Oxford in the UK, with 510 subjects, will begin in April. The vaccine is based on a common platform with vaccines against influenza virus, the pathogen of TB, chikungunya virus, Zika virus, meningococcal B, which causes meningitis, and the pathogen. Incidentally, in parallel with the Inovio vaccine, animal testing began in Australia in the first days of April. The development was also supported by CEPI and the British government. The results are expected by May 2021.
- Testing of a joint RNA-based vaccine by German BioNTech, Fosun Pharma in China and Pfizer in the US will begin in late April.
- A vaccine test at the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. will begin in June. This new coronavirus is based on a subunit of a protein and shares its platform with vaccination against MERS coronavirus.
- The German CureVac RNA-based vaccine will enter the first phase in June . Its platform is common to vaccines against rabies virus, Lassa virus, yellow fever virus, MERS coronavirus, influenza virus A, Zika virus, Dengue virus and Nipah virus. It was the vaccine that German press reports said US President Donald Trump was trying to buy out to be owned only by the United States. The development is also supported by CEPI and the European Commission .
- Also in June, a clinical trial of a vaccine developed by the University of Cambridge in the UK and DIOSynVax, founded by the university, could begin. The vaccine is based on a protein subunit, a common platform with influenza virus and Ebola vaccines.
- Sometime this summer, a vaccine is planned to be launched under the auspices of IMV, Canada, in collaboration with several local university and public research centers. The vaccine, based on the protein subunit, shares a platform for vaccination against malaria and anthrax pathogens, among others.
- Testing of the vaccine, developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, and Harvard University Hospital Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will begin in September. The viral vector-based vaccine platform is also based on vaccination against Ebola virus, HIV and respiratory giant cell virus (RSV). The development is supported by a U.S. government research and development agency called BARDA.
- A clinical trial of SK Bioscience vaccine in South Korea is also expected in September, but not much is yet known about this drug.
- Sometime in the fall, tests will be launched at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, FluGen in the United States, and Bharat Biotech in India. The vaccine uses a variant of the influenza virus as a vector, and the solution is based on an influenza vaccine.
- The vaccine, developed by VBI Vaccines in the US and the Research Council of the Government of Canada, is expected to enter the first phase by the end of the year. This vaccine is based on protein subunits and is planned to protect against SARS and MERS coronavirus in addition to the new coronavirus.
- Clinical trials are planned for the last quarter of the year by a Swedish company called ISR Immune System Regulation, which operates at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. The details of the vaccine are not yet known.
- Sometime this year, tests will also begin at the British Cobra Biologics and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The development of their DNA-based vaccine is also supported by the European Commission.
- Testing of RNA-based vaccines from Belgian eTheRNA Immunotherapies, American EpiVax, American-Canadian Nexelis, Japanese REPROCELL and the University of Antwerp is expected early next year.
- A clinical trial of vaccination against influenza virus and SARS coronavirus vaccines based on the French Sanofi Pasteur protein subunit is planned for next March.
Finally, we list all vaccines currently being prepared, broken down by vaccine type. At their developers, we also indicated the country to outline where they are working on what vaccine. It also shows, for example, how much international cooperation there is in the fight against the epidemic, and despite the political-rhetorical bangs, for example, there are several American-Chinese joint projects underway. We also show on a map how many projects companies and research centers in which countries are involved in:
And then finally come the list itself. For the sake of completeness, we have also classified the improvements already detailed above, which are highlighted in bold in the list:
Contains live attenuated virus (2)
- Codagenix (American), Serum Institute of India (Indian)
- DZIF (German)
Contains inactivated virus (3)
- Sinovac, Beijing Institute of Biological Products, Wuhan Institute of Biological Product (Chinese)
- Osaka University, BIKEN, NIBIOHN (Japanese)
Contains a subunit of the virus (27)
- University of Pittsburgh, DIOSynVax (Americans)
- Sanofi Pasteur (French)
- IMV and others (Canadians)
- VBI Vaccines (US), National Research Council (Canada)
- PREVENT-nCoV consortium (Danish-German-Dutch)
- ExpreS2ion (Danish)
- WRAIR, USAMRIID (US Military Research Centers)
- National Institute of Infectious Diseases (Japan)
- Osaka University, BIKEN, National Institute of Biomedical Innovations (Japan)
- Clover Biopharmaceuticals (Chinese), GSK (British), Dynavax (US)
- Vaxil Bio (Canada)
- Biological E (Indian)
- AJ Vaccines (Danish)
- Vaxine Pty, Flinders University (Australia)
- Generex (Canada), EpiVax (US)
- EpiVax, University of Georgia (Americans)
- Innovax, Xiamen University (Chinese), GSK (British)
- Novavax, Emergent BioSolutions (Americans)
- Heat Biologics, University of Miami (Americans)
- University of Queensland (Australia), GSK (UK), Dynavax (USA)
- Baylor College of Medicine (US)
- iBio (US), CC-Pharming (Chinese)
- St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums (Russian)
- VIDO-InterVac, University of Saskatchewan (Canadians)
- Flow Pharma (US)
- OncoGen (Romanian)
https://index.hu/techtud/2020/04/11/koronavirus_jarvany_vakcina_oltas_vedooltas_korkep/