Latest news about coronavirus vaccine

With cases rising every day, the world is ardently pinning hopes on a vaccine to combat the surge of COVID-19. Newer developments are being made every day and as per WHO, there are over 110 groups in contention right now.

Here are the latest updates regarding the same

Patanjali launches COVID cure

Baba Ramdev headed Patanjali group launched the first Ayurvedic medicine, named 'Coronil' to treat COVID-19. The launch comes after CEO of the company, Acharya Balkrishna claimed that the patients who were administered the drug showed successful recovery and also saw a decrease in the viral load in the body. The medicine, made out of Ayurvedic herbs like ashwagandha and giloy claims to have a "100%" recovery rate. Clinical trials for the same are also being done in 12 other centres across the country. In a statement, he said,

“We appointed a team of scientists after COVID-19 outbreak. Firstly, the simulation was done and compounds were identified which can fight the virus and stop its spread in the body. Then, we conducted a clinical case study on hundreds of positive patients and we have got 100 per cent favourable results,”

Apart from this, Balkrishna also advised people to practice yoga and follow good precautions to safeguard themselves against the pandemic, which has affected 4,00,00 people in India alone.

Moderna claims 80-90% success rates

Vaccine prototype produced by American pharmaceutical giant Moderna Inc. is currently one of the frontrunners in the race, with steady developments happening around the same. The company is all set to begin with a phase-3 trial in July, which would involve 30,000 patients. Even as experts debate around the actual workability of the vaccine, the CEO, Stephane Bancel recently issued a statement saying that he was sure of the vaccine getting approvals from the FDA, with an 80-90% success rate of the vaccine proving to be effective.

“We know our platform. It works on MERS, Zika and CMV and so on. When you have the right sequence ... you will get neutralizing antibodies.”

The company is making use of an innovate mRNA (messenger RNA) technology, which makes use of a gene sequence to instruct the cells to produce a spike protein to defeat the virus.

Thai vaccine reaches a critical stage

Another promising vaccine in the race is being developed in Thailand. According to recent developments, Thai scientists administered a second dose of their experimental vaccine on monkeys, hoping for a positive response in this make or break stage of their vaccine development. If the testing emits positive results, researchers are hoping to enter the human trial stage in the next 2-3 months.

As part of the study, 13 monkeys were infected with a novel protein to immunize them and will be observed for the next two weeks. Pre-clinical trials conducted on monkeys showed effective results and researchers are hopeful of achieving a high immunization rate.

Chinese firm gets approval for human clinical trials

China, which was one of the first countries to be affected by the pandemic is spearheading research on as many as six vaccine candidates being produced in different labs. As many as three of the vaccine prototypes have started with clinical trials and shown promising and safe results. Another prototype being developed by Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products has been given the go-ahead for the start of human trials. Experts of hopeful of seeing a Chinese vaccine available for public use before the end of 2020, or latest, by the end of February 2021.

Sanofi "hopeful" of getting approval by the first half of 2021

Global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, who is a leading vaccine producer is hopeful of seeing its vaccine model getting approvals by the first half of 2021. The pharma giant is co-developing a vaccine with British giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at a speedy rate. The news comes as both GSK and now Sanofi talked about the "safety" and reassuring workability of their vaccines. Sanofi's CEO also said that the possibility of their vaccine is "higher than anybody else". In the past, Sanofi has worked on producing vaccines which work against viral diseases like the flu.

Sanofi is working on two vaccine prototypes- one which uses an adjuvant made by GSK to boost efficasy, and the other one makes use of a recombinant mRNA technology, like the Moderna vaccine.

from LifeStyle