Covid-19 vaccine - The quest for a Corona virus fix

 COVID-19 vaccine update: These coronavirus vaccines are leading the race 

Medical experts have warned that the volume of vaccine available to fight the coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 in coming years is expected to fall far short of global demand. According to Washington post about 70 per cent of the world's population or 5.6 billion people will probably need to be inoculated to begin to establish herd immunity and slow its spread.

There are at least 79 vaccines in various stages of early testing. The pandemic has boost-up the development of novel coronavirus vaccines across the biotech industry, both by pharmaceutical companies and research organisations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US. Various pharmaceutical companies and researchers are in different stages of their search for a vaccine, while some are in advanced stages of finding a cure.

Here major candidates in stages of development and research :








The Oxford University
The University of Oxford has developed a vaccine candidate ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’ in under three months. The vaccine candidate uses a weakened strain of common cold virus (adenovirus) and is combined with the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus causing COVID-19).

The vaccine candidate is now in a clinical trial phase-1 and healthy volunteers have already been injected to check its safety and efficiency. Professor Sarah Gilbert, who is leading the Oxford vaccine team, has previously said she’s “80% confident” the vaccine will work. Scientists at Oxford have previously said the aim is to produce a million doses of the vaccine by September

Gilead Sciences

Remdesivir was one of the first medicines identified as having the potential to impact SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, in lab tests. The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead’s clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies. If safe and effective, it could become the first approved treatment against the disease..

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson that it was working with BARDA to test its vaccine. J&J began working on the investigation vaccine, Ad26 SARS-CoV-2 in January using the same technology it used to develop a candidate vaccine for Ebola.It uses a deactivated version of the virus to try to trigger a human immune response. J&J’s partnership with BARDA will supply the company with half of the $1 billion capital needed to expedite testing and manufacturing of the drug. it may have investigational doses of the vaccine available by early 2021 for emergency use.

Moderna 

Moderna Inc. to develop an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. On Feb. 24, it said it had shipped the first batch of mRNA-1273 to the NIAID for a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. mRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 encoding for a perfusion stabilized form of the Spike (S) protein, which was selected by Moderna in collaboration with investigators from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a part of the NIH. Manufacture of the first clinical batch was funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Inovio Pharmaceuticals

INO-4800 is a DNA vaccine candidate designed to prevent novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 from infecting humans, which causes COVID-19 disease

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. is testing its vaccine candidate in a Phase 1 clinical trial at two sites in the U.S.: the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Pharmaceutical Research in Kansas City, Mo.

The company has received a $5m grant from the Bill and Mellinda Gates foundation to accelerate the development of the Cellectra® delivery device. "Producing a COVID-19 vaccine within the next 12 to 18 months is not only a scientific challenge; it will also require new levels of collaboration and investment across industry and government. There is still a long road ahead before we have a safe, effective, and globally accessible vaccine ready for broader use, but today we have reached an important milestone on that journey," stated the company's press release.Entos Pharmaceuticals is developing Fusogenix DNA vaccine developed using the Fusogenix drug delivery platform to prevent COVID-19 infections. “Our Fusogenix platform will allow us to generate protection against multiple structural components of the novel coronavirus, which should not only provide a robust response against SARS-COV-2, but potentially against future coronavirus threats.” Said by CEO Dr John Lewis .

Roivant Sciences

According to reuters Biotechnology company Roivant Sciences is beginning to give U.S. COVID-19 patients its experimental drug “gimsilumab” in a clinical trial on Wednesday, Chief Executive Vivek Ramaswamy said at a Reuters Events pharmaceutical conference.“It’s rolling out imminently,” Ramaswamy, the privately held company’s founder, said in a video interview.

Roche 

CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche suggested- A coronavirus vaccine is unlikely to be ready before the end of next year.He also a dded that timeline of up to 18 months to develop a coronavirus vaccine was “ambitious.”

Roche has collaborated with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a Phase III clinical trial of Actemra/RoActemra (tocilizumab) in hospitalised adults with severe Covid-19 pneumonia. Actemra is also being evaluated in a clinical trial in China, which is expected to enroll 188 coronavirus patients.

Sanofi & GlaxoSmithkline

Sanofi and GSK said in a statement that the vaccine would be ready to begin testing in humans in the second half of 2020 and that they aim to complete all of the work required to file for regulatory approval by the second half of 2021.

Serum Institute of India

The Pune-based Serum Institute of India has tied up with Oxford University that is testing a vaccine using a weakened adenovirus (which causes common cold).

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, which produces over 1.5 billion doses and immunises over 65 per cent of the children worldwide. The CEO said -expect to roll out the vaccine by September–October, if the trials are successful and available at an affordable price of around Rs 1,000 in India.

The Israel Institute for Biological Research

The Institute has developed an antibody or passive vaccine which can attack and neutralise the virus responsible for COVID-19 within the bodies of those infected. Terming the development a 'major breakthrough', the minister said that he was shown the 'antibody that attacks the virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralise it within the bodies of those ill', said a statement from his office as reported The Times of Israel.

Sinovac Biotech

Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, has shown promising results as the experimental vaccine could help protect the rhesus macaques, a type of monkey originating in India, from the virus.

Pfizer & BioNTech

Pfizer & BioNTech SE are jointly developing a vaccine candidate based on genetic material known as messenger RNA Named BNT162

Pfizer said last week it expects to make safety data on the vaccine available by late May.

CanSino Bio

CanSino Bio’s Ad5-nCoV is the most advanced DNA vaccine candidate at the moment against COVID-19. China's CanSino Biologics Inc , the company behind one of the few coronavirus vaccine candidates already in clinical trials, is collaborating with Canada's National Research Council. CanSino's vaccine is produced using a cell line that was developed at the NRC. Cansion used the same cell line to develop an Ebola vaccine. 

Some other Companies and institutes are racing against time to create a possible vaccine to prevent  death. They are : 

Ø Amgen and Adaptive Biotechnologies

Ø Altimmune (Name: AdCOVID)

Ø CytoDyn

Ø Heat Biologics

Ø Regeneron Pharmaceuticals(REGN-COV2)

Ø Takeda Pharmaceutical(TAK-888)

Ø Vaxart

Ø Vir Biotechnology- VIR-2703 (also called ALN-COV), VIR- 7831 and VIR-7832

Ø Indian Immunologicals with Griffith University

Ø Bharat Biotech in association with Thomas Jefferson University