For those of us who are getting inundated by the non-stop bad news about the spread of the coronavirus — first in China, then in S. Korea and Europe and now in the U.S., we present here a short synopsis of the various vaccines and treatments (drugs) under development. Besides containment, quarantine and isolation procedures, vaccines and drugs are a key part of the solution to stop the Coronavirus from becoming a worldwide killing machine.
Note that the list has been updated multiple times over the month of March as new information has come out.
The genetic analysis of the COVID-19 virus (aka SARS-CoV-2) has been going on for weeks at a unprecedented rate with modern technology and worldwide collaboration. Over 160 virus samples have been sequenced. This analysis facilitates the tracking and the evolution of the virus and is also extremely useful in identifying and developing new vaccines and therapies. Typically, new vaccines take 10-15 years to develop and test; in this case, vaccines have already reached testing stage just weeks after development started and they may be ready for widespread use within 18 months.
Vaccines
The following is a list of companies in the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines. Most companies have prior experience and existing products developed for other viruses and they are adapting some of their products to fight COVID-19. Most companies have their own unique approach to vaccine design.
|
Company |
Name |
Notes |
1 |
Moderna Therapeutics |
mRNA-1273 |
Testing on humans started on March 16
mRNA based
|
2 |
CureVac |
|
mRNA based; Germany based |
3 |
BioNTech |
|
mRNA based; Germany based. teamed with Pfizer. |
4 |
CanSino Biologics |
Ad5 nCov |
Backed by Chinese govt.
Human trials started around Mar 15
|
5 |
Inovio Pharmaceuticals |
INO-4800 |
Collab with Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology
DNA vaccine
|
6 |
Johnson & Johnson |
|
Modifying a harmless adenovirus to resemble COVID-19 |
7 |
Sanofi |
|
Based off SARS vaccine |
8 |
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals |
REGN3048, REGN3051 |
Uses genetically engineered mice to generate antibodies
Offers vaccine-like protection for a few months
|
9 |
MIGAL Research Institute |
IBV |
Oral. Based in Israel |
10 |
Tonix Pharmaceuticals |
TNX-1800 |
Modified horsepox virus vaccine |
11 |
Vaxart |
Oral vaccine |
www.biospace.com/...
|
12 |
Applied DNA Sciences and Takis Biotech |
|
PCR-based DNA (LinearDNA)
adnas.com/...
|
13 |
Novavax |
|
Developed MERS vaccine. ir.novavax.com/... |
14 |
Generex |
Peptide vaccine |
Funded by a Chinese consortium
epivax.com/...
|
15 |
Tulane University |
|
news.tulane.edu/… |
16 |
ImmunoPrecise Antibodies |
|
AI assisted computational antibody design |
17 |
Zydus Cadila (India) |
|
DNA vaccine and a live attenuated recombinant measles virus (rMV) vectored vaccine |
18 |
Serum Institute of India |
|
Collab with Codagenix |
19 |
Dyadic
|
|
Collab with The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) apnews.com/... |
20 |
Medicago |
|
Plant based vaccine. media.medicago.com/... |
21 |
Mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London |
|
www.thelondoneconomic.com/... |
22 |
GlaxoSmithKline |
|
Collab with Clover Biopharmaceuticals in China. www.statnews.com/... |
23 |
Altimmune |
|
Single-dose, intranasal vaccine. biobuzz.io/... |
24 |
Institut Pasteur, Themis and U. of Pittsburgh |
|
Based on measles-vector technology
CEPI funded
|
25 |
University of Queensland, Australia |
|
CEPI funded |
26 |
AbCellera |
|
Anti-body treatment
Collab with Eli Lilly
investor.lilly.com/...
|
That is an impressive list of companies and organizations and a lot of smart and dedicated people behind them. I am sure there are more which we are not aware of, especially in Europe. Hopefully, multiple vaccines will be successful and become available for mass use. But vaccines will not do much to stop the virus over the next few weeks and months — they won’t be ready for general use for at least 18 months.
A few notes about vaccines —
- Vaccines are not drugs or treatment.
- Vaccines do not attack the virus. They help the body generate immune cells that can attack the virus.
- They are administered to healthy individuals, not patients.
- Vaccines have to be administered to a large fraction of the population to prevent an epidemic
- Vaccines are generally not fast-tracked (although there are exceptions). They require rigorous multi-stage testing to determine their safety and efficacy.
- mRNA vaccines kickstart the production of proteins similar to the virus, which triggers the body’s immune system to develop antibodies effective against the virus.
I am not providing any technical information about these vaccines. Most of the available information will only make sense to microbiologists. You can look up the references listed at the bottom of the diary to learn more.
The link below has some info on the different approaches to making vaccines.
Treatments
Treatments on the other hand are drugs that can directly attack the virus. They are administered to infected individuals. Many of the drugs being evaluated are anti-viral drugs, developed to fight other viruses such as Ebola, HIV, SARS and MERS.
The following is a list of companies and their products targeted at SARS-CoV-2. Most companies have prior experience and existing products developed for other viruses and they are adapting some of their products to fight SARS-CoV-2. Some of the drugs are existing drugs that have the potential to be effective against SARS-CoV-2.
Note that there is little overlap between the companies developing the vaccine vs those developing drugs. Some of the drugs were developed to fight other viruses such as Ebola, HIV, coronaviruses, MERS and SARS and some are being modified for SARS-CoV-2. These drugs will more likely play a major role in preventing complications in infected patients and reducing deaths. Note that these are serious drugs which will be available by prescription, not OTC.
Some of the treatments are already being tested in China.
A few high-level notes about treatments (drugs) —
- Drugs are administered to patients, not healthy individuals. I wonder whether they can be used to protect health workers.
- Drugs attack the virus. They do not help the body build immunity.
- Drugs can be fast-tracked. Even though drugs, like vaccines, require rigorous multi-stage testing to determine their safety and efficacy, drugs can be approved for use with severely ill patients, if there is no other viable option to save a patient’s life.
Note that there are other treatments that help to reduce the severity of the symptoms and buy the body more time to fight the infection.
Vaccines and Treatments under Test
A few of the vaccines and treatments have already reached testing status.
The first vaccine to reach Phase-1 testing is the one from Moderna, which shipped first batches to NIH. It went into human trails on March 15. Note that it is still a long away from being available for widespread use in large quantities.
From time.com/… -
Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19 was developed in record time because it’s based on a relatively new genetic method that does not require growing huge amounts of virus. Instead, the vaccine is packed with mRNA, the genetic material that comes from DNA and makes proteins. Moderna loads its vaccine with mRNA that codes for the right coronavirus proteins which then get injected into the body. Immune cells in the lymph nodes can process that mRNA and start making the protein in just the right way for other immune cells to recognize and mark them for destruction.
NIH has also begun testing of Gilead Sciences Remdesivir anti-viral treatment. Remdesivir was developed to treat Ebola but has shown anti-viral activity towards several other viruses including coronaviruses (MERS and SARS).
Testing will be led by a team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The first patient to volunteer for the ground-breaking study is a passenger who was brought back to the US after testing positive for the disease aboard the Diamond Princess. Others diagnosed with COVID-19 who have been hospitalized will also be part of the study.
Fapilavir has been approved for treatment in China. Remdesivir and Chloroquine (the Malaria medicine) are also being tested in China.
It is still unrealistic to expect vaccines to be widely available in less than 18 months (the tweet below has some excellent annotated diagrams) -
Images of SARS-CoV-2
Here are a few images and videos of the coronavirus, just to illustrate the power of modern microbiology and to provide a sense of how these viruses work.
The next 3 images are of “spike” proteins found on the surface of the virus. They play a key role in the working of the virus and many of the drugs target these proteins.
Here is an animation showing how the coronovirus works inside the body and how it infects cells and reproduces.
Another video illustrating how viruses infiltrate and reproduce.
This video takes you inside a modern laboratory where researchers are busy developing vaccines.
Epilogue
The purpose of this diary is provide provide some information about all the scientific work going behind the scenes, much of which gets little attention in the news media. There is a foreboding sense of doom and gloom, not helped by how the media covers the issue or by the ineptness and callousness of the administration.
But it is reassuring to know there are plenty of scientists and health professionals working around the clock analyzing the virus, developing novel treatments and vaccines, educating the public about procedures to avoid getting infected, and guiding organizations and the public on what lies ahead.
Also, take a look at the many excellent diaries at this site that cover day-to-day news of the virus and that have practical tips on precautions and preparedness.
As has been said many times — wash your hands with soap frequently, practice how not to touch your face and avoid hand-shakes and close-contact with other people.
References
- Catching Up to Coronavirus: Top 60 Treatments in Development — www.genengnews.com/...
- Coronavirus treatment: Vaccines/drugs in the pipeline for Covid-19 — www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/…
- A detailed guide to the coronavirus drugs and vaccines in development — www.statnews.com/…
- Biotechs Working On Coronavirus Vaccine — greatgameindia.com/…
- A simple guide to the vaccines and drugs that could fight coronavirus — www.vox.com/...
- Two Research Groups Use Artificial Intelligence to Find Compounds That Could Fight the Novel Coronavirus — inchemistry.acs.org/…
- Coronavirus treatment: Vaccines/drugs in the pipeline for COVID-19 — www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/...
- Five Companies Using AI to Fight Coronavirus — spectrum.ieee.org/…
- Coronavirus Control - Novel High Tech. Solutions or Mass Surveillance? — www.dailykos.com/…
- Some Novel Coronavirus Treatments in the Pipeline - Antibody Harvesting and Plant Based Vaccines — www.dailykos.com/...