Vaccines To Protect Against Covid-19, The New Coronavirus Infection

f:id:shahida:20200320174555j:plain


Covid-19, the new respiratory infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, is spreading internationally. However, companies and research institutes are developing vaccinations against it. An Asian man with a protective mask pushes his sleeve up while a syringe is drawn up on the foreground.

The coronavirus infectious disease that is spreading worldwide has been given the name Covid-19 (WHO, February 11, 2020). The virus that causes it was given the name SARS-CoV-2 (after it was initially listed under 2019-nCoV).

 

At least 47 vaccine projects have started against this infectious disease: the World Health Organization currently has 41. There are also six other projects that the WHO has not yet listed: one by the German company BioNTech (with Pfizer), two projects by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) , one of the Swedish Karolinska Institute-led consortium Opencorona (which also includes the University of Gießen) and a project of the Israeli Biological Research Institute. The Swiss company Alpha-O Peptides is also working on a vaccine according to media reports.

Several of these vaccine projects are funded by CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations: projects by the German company CureVac, the US company Inovio (together with the Wistar Institute and Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology), Moderna (with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and Novavax, and projects from the Australian University of Queensland (with the company Dynavax, which contributes an adjuvant (1)) and the British University of Oxford.

In conjunction with CEPI, GSK also offers to incorporate its own vaccine adjuvant technology into projects for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. So it happened. a. to a cooperation between Chinese vaccine developer Clover Biopharmaceuticals and GSK to develop a vaccine that contains selected, genetically engineered Covid-19 proteins and one of the GSK adjuvants.

CEPI is a Product Development Partnership that is financed by Norway, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

Testing of the Moderna vaccine with volunteers began on March 16, 2020.

The Chinese company CanSinoBIO approved the start of the study with their vaccine on March 17th. receive.

The first clinical studies with volunteers for the Inovio vaccine have been announced for April 2020, for BioNTech / PfizerBioNTech / PfizerBioNTech / Pfizer for the end of April. Novavax plans to begin volunteer studies for late spring and CureVac for early summer. The University of Queensland project has achieved animal testing.

Other projects are carried out independently of CEPI. For example, the Mainz-based company BioNTech is developing a vaccine with Pfizer, which it plans to test with volunteers in Europe, the USA and China from the end of April. The companies also work with the Chinese company Fosun Pharma.

Janssen (in the Johnson & Johnson group) also announced that it would develop a vaccine using technology that was already used for an Ebola vaccine that is currently undergoing the approval process in the EU. It works with the state organization Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi, also cooperates with BARDA. The aim is to develop a Covid-19 vaccine using the company's own technology platform for recombinant DNA. The project builds on an earlier one that targeted a SARS vaccine.

The companies Tonix Pharmaceuticals, Altimmune, Greffex, Vaxart, GeoVax (with BravoVax in China) and LineaRx with Takis Biotech, all based in the USA, have also reported on the development of their own vaccines. Altimmun's vaccine is said to be used nasally, just like a company's previously developed flu vaccine. Tonix is ​​modifying a Horsepox virus for its TNX-1800 vaccine. Vaxart is planning a vaccine that will be swallowed as a tablet and will not be injected.

In Denmark, ExpreS2ion is developing a vaccine with partners.

The Israeli company Vaxil has also reported developing its own vaccine.

The Indian companies Zydus Cadila and Serum Institute (in cooperation with the US company Codagenix) are also working on vaccines. According to media reports, the vaccine from Serum Institute and Codagenix is ​​already being tested on animals.

In China, Cansino Biologics is working on a vaccine.

Active research institutions include VIDO-InterVac (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization - International Vaccine Cent