The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday the agency has more than a hundred candidates for a vaccine against COVID-19. The agency has listed about seven to eight top candidates or the ones with greater potential compared to the rest.
Tedros also said that a consortium of more than 400 scientists is participating in the vaccine development and diagnostics. All works are being accelerated at this point in the development, he said.
Originally, world health experts agreed that the vaccine may take 12 to 18 months. But, the additional pledge of $8 billion announced last week may ramp up the whole process. It would be recalled that leaders from 40 countries, as well as other organizations like the Bill & Gates Foundation, including banks, have pooled in donations for the vaccine and research.
While the concerted effort could make do with the $8 billion, the real challenge is how to come with more funds to make the vaccine available for all countries around the world.
Meanwhile, a separate report said there are now at least 250 drugs and 95 vaccines that are currently being investigated.
Another report said Novavax received about $388 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness. The funding is allocated for further development and the manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The $388 million is on top of the $4 million Novavax received in March.
Novavax identified NVX-CoV2373 as a potential candidate for the COVID-19 vaccine. The public company said the vaccine proved effective in animal trials. The recent grant will be used to conduct a safety trial in Australia within the month of May. The company is looking forward to creating 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country is expecting to begin clinical trials for a vaccine in July. At present, works with regard to the trial are underway at the University of Tokyo, Osaka University, and the National Institue of Infectious Diseases.
The Japanese government is also aiming to have the anti-flu drug Avigan approved as a treatment for COVID-19. Previously, the government already approved anti-viral drug remdesivir. It became Japan's first official drug against coronavirus. Remdesivir was also used in emergency treatment during the Ebola outbreak.
Remdisivir has also been supported by positive data from the US National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Study. To be exact, a study from the agency showed that Remdesivir helped COVID-19 patients recover faster. As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the drug among patients with severe cases of COVID-19.
