New Delhi: Scientists across the world are working frantically to find a vaccine against COVID-19. There are many countries that are working to develop a preventive measure against the COVID-19 virus. However, all eyes are on US-based company ‘Moderna’. The company has achieved encouraging early results on a small group of healthy volunteers. ‘Moderna’ like many others is working round the clock to develop a vaccine against coronavirus.
Firms in race to produce COVID-19 vaccine
Experts have cautioned that a vaccine is still months, maybe even a year away. However the results achieved by ‘Moderna’ have caught their attention . The US-based biotechnology firm‘s findings have propelled it to a pole position in the race of 118.
Eight candidate vaccines for COVID-19 are in the clinical evaluation. Another 110 are in the preclinical stage, according to the WHO’s latest draft landscape. Preclinical development is an important stage of research. During it important feasibility, iterative testing and drug safety data are collected. Clinical trials on the other hand are research studies performed on people.
Early data from its vaccine ‘mRNA-1273’ showed it produced protective antibodies in a group of eight healthy volunteers, ‘Moderna’ said.
Another COVID-19 vaccine which is being closely watched is the one Oxford University scientists are working on. It appears protective in a small study of six monkeys. Those were promising findings that led to the start of human trials in late April.
Clinical trials show early success
“Moderna’s is the only vaccine having demonstrated any kind of immunologic response in the COVID-19 field. So we would consider this to be the leading candidate,” said Michael Breen. He is the associate director, Infectious Disease, at GlobalData, a UK-based data analytics and consulting company.
“Of the vaccines in human trials, only two have demonstrated any kind of effectiveness,” Breen said. He added the ‘Moderna’ study proves the platform can lead to production of antibodies against a given virus.
‘Moderna’ announced Monday positive interim clinical data of mRNA-1273, from the Phase 1 study. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) conducted the study. The data comes from eight people who took part in a 45-subject safety trial. The trial kicked off in March. The study showed the vaccine was safe and all study participants produced antibodies against the virus.
“Globally, one vaccine that looks promising is Moderna’s mRNA- based vaccine. It showed promising results in the early trials,” Upasana Ray, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, said.
RNA is the genetic material of the viruses. Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines work by introducing a synthetic sequence of the viruses’ genetic material. It encodes the disease-specific protein to trigger the body’s immune system, the experts explained.
Vaccine developed by Oxford University
Discussing the Oxford University vaccine, Upasana said the work ‘deserves applause. However, it needs additional supportive information and experiments’. The preliminary findings of the Oxford study appeared on the preprint server ‘bioRxiv’.
British drug-maker AstraZeneca teamed up with researchers at Oxford and the Jenner Institute in developing the vaccine.
Breen described their ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’ candidate vaccine as a ‘standout’. “While this vaccine has yet to demonstrate efficacy in humans, it has been able to prevent infection and disease from COVID-19 in a primate model,” he said.
Though ‘Moderna’ and Oxford vaccines are in a leading position, there are several other vaccines in the running. India is also in the race to produce a vaccine to fight the pandemic coronavirus.
India also in race
In India, eight organisations are in the fray with a vaccine candidate. , Half of them are companies and the other half non-industry, said Brooke Wilson, Associate Director, Healthcare, GlobalData.
“These organisations are running or planning to initiate 12 clinical trials, one is ongoing, recruiting and the other 11 are planned,” Wilson said. He explained that six of these trials are specifically for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Agencies