Two of the leading vaccines are developed in the United States and one in China.
This was revealed in a table published by WHO and which showed the present clinical evaluation for each candidate and the 70 developers worldwide.
The top candidates for the vaccines are the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, in partnership with Hong Kong’s CanSino Biological Inc and US biotechnology companies; Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Moderna.
The latter is in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, a safety trial for the Moderna and NIAID vaccine, mRNA-1273, is estimated for completion by June 2021.
It revealed that 45 healthy participants aged between 18 and 55 will receive a series of injections of the vaccine in the deltoid muscle, and will be followed through 12 months after the second vaccination.
It also noted that the first participant was enrolled in the study on March 3, while people are being recruited from Decatur, Georgia, Seattle, Washington and a third location in Maryland.
Based on the WHO table, the clinical trial for the Inovio Pharmaceuticals vaccine candidate is estimated to be completed by November 2020.
The study of its DNA plasmid vaccine, WHO revealed, involves 40 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 50 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Kansas City, Missouri, while the first participant was enrolled on April 3.
While both US candidates are in the recruitment process according to the US National Library of Medicine, some reports are claiming that both trials already began last week, reports NewsHub.
According to the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology has already moved on to phase II – a “randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial” expected to run from April until January 2021.
The trial, it notes, consists of three groups; the first with a sample size of 250 and the second and third with sample sizes of 125.
The first two groups will be administered a middle dose and a low dose respectively, while the third group will receive a placebo – a substance that has no physiological effect.
WHO in a statement on Monday said, “Under WHO’s coordination, a group of experts with diverse backgrounds is working towards the development of vaccines against COVID-19.
“The group makes a call to everyone to follow recommendations to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and protect the health of individuals.”
The remaining 67 vaccine candidates are still in the preclinical stages of development at institutes such as Osaka University in Japan, Australia’s University of Queensland and the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, WHO revealed.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the pharmaceutical industry is hoping to dramatically reduce the time it takes to get a vaccine on the market from roughly 10 to 15 years to within the next 12 months.
Despite the leading candidates moving on to human trials, a number of public health officials and media outlets are reiterating that a 12 to 18-month timeframe is to be expected before any mass vaccination campaign, NewsHub noted.
SOURCE: PUNCH
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