COVAXIN --- CATCHING UP WITH THE TREND

There are more than 70 groups worldwide rushing to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, including Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and BioNTech and NovaVax. In this race is included a non-commercial enterprise, Oxford University’s Jenner Institute. Cambridge based Moderna, Inc. is ready to begin phase II of its mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. The company submitted an investigational New Drug application to FDA on the design of the planned Phase II study, expected to commence in the second quarter of 2020. The optimism for a new vaccine for COVID-19 is wavering between communities, ranging from 65% to 80%.

Sanofi and GSK are mobilizing their resources to accelerate the development of a candidate vaccine to address the ongoing pandemic. Sanofi will contribute its coronavirus S-protein, which has been on rDNA technology producing identical proteins found on the surface of the virus, and GSK will contribute its adjuvant technology to the collaboration. An adjuvant can be added to vaccines to enhance the immune response, which has shown stronger and longer lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone. (Pharma.iQ.com)

India's ingenious COVID-19 Vaccine chosen to enter the clinical trial by Indian Council of Medical Research is a licensed product from Bharat Biotech developed in collaboration with ICMR-National Institute of Virology. Eagerly embracing this prestigious venture, guidance documents are being prepared to fast-track the process amidst serious scrutiny from the world medical community. The process of seeking the regulatory approval for human trials from Drug Controller General of India must adhere to the existing guidelines. CDSCO mandate includes transparency, accountability and uniformity in its services in order to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of the medical products.(http://cdsco.nic.in)

On March 16, 2020, Modern and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) began dosing patients with mRNA-1273, Its vaccine candidate against COVID-19. VLA2001 IS A covid-19 vaccine based on Valneva’s already commercialised and validated Japanese encephalitis vaccine.

The Oxford vaccine candidate is based on a non-replicating chimpanzee adenovirus vector, ChAdOx1, which was originally developed at the Jenner Institute. Engineered to encode the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 construct is designed to trigger production of the viral protein which then primes the immune system to recognise SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Government initiatives

The UK government has appointed a new task force to drive forward the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine and prepare it at an industrial scale. The UK government has pledged 3250 million to the international effort to develop a corona virus vaccine under coalition for Epidemic preparedness Innovations (CEPI)The announcement comes from a country with a rich history of pioneering in science (independent.co.uk; 17th April 2020).

The corona virus strain that is wreaking havoc moving around the world is not mutating at a level that would make it significant more deadly. This keeps the hope alive that the vaccine when it is discovered will be effective for most people.