Biotech companies worldwide are rushing to produce a coronavirus drug, with 70 already under development stage, the World Health Organization announced, Tuesday.
Chinese and American biotech start-ups are developing their own vaccines, and at least three are now in laboratory testing. Bloomberg announced that major multinationals like Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are now developing their vaccines, as well.
Science Alert disclosed that US companies like Moderna and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are already testing the drug in humans.
Since the virus continues to spread aggressively, infecting more than 1.9 million people, and killing more than 110,000 around the world, experts have been scrambling to come up with something that will delay the onslaught of the disease that is already threatening the capacities of medical facilities in saving lives.
Current research includes a variety of groups, ranging from pharmaceutical firms and small biotech firms to the academe and not-for-profit organizations to deal with the ongoing horror.
Developing a new drug is usually a very costly, complex, and time consuming process that involves hundreds of millions of dollars and years of research to decide if a vaccine is safe and effective. There are still no licensed coronavirus vaccines at the moment.
Progress in the production of vaccines is taking shape at an unprecedented pace, as the disease appears nearly impossible to be wiped out by containment efforts alone.
The pharmacological industry aims to shorten the time it takes to deliver a vaccine out in the market within the next year. It usually takes scientists and medical experts 10 to 15 years to develop one.
In China, the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, in tandem with the CanSino Bio of Hong Kong, is leading the charge with their own solution to the pandemic: the Ad5-nCoV vaccine.
CanSino Bio said in a listing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it is planning to 'soon' switch to Phase 2 trials with the genetically engineered vaccine candidate.
Vaccines are accompanied by risks of causing a so-called "immune enhancement" where they weaken its effectiveness to the virus. Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine's National School of Tropical Medicine, said more study is needed to prevent this from happening. The way to reduce the risk, he said, is to first "show it does not occur in lab animals."
Vaccines under development are typically required to undergo strict trials in a lab first, then in animals, and then in a small group of people to ensure its safety before they are finally tested in bigger groups to determine whether they can prevent the virus. But experts warn that bypassing any of these steps just to get a license for the vaccine could be dangerous.
