Covid Vaccine: Moment of Truth for the Modern Laboratory

28-07-2020 by Mirai

The United States has doubled its financial investment, to almost a billion dollars in total, to support the development of a possible Covid-19 vaccine developed by the American company Moderna, which enters the final phase of its clinical trial on Monday.

The U.S. government has pledged up to an additional $ 472 million, in addition to the previously announced $ 483 million, Moderna said in a statement on Sunday. This extension is justified according to the biotech company because it has decided to "carry out a considerably larger Phase 3 clinical trial" than originally planned.

Their experimental vaccine, which triggered antibodies against the coronavirus in all the participants, numbering 45, in the first phase of the test, can be tested on Monday in 30,000 people: half of them will receive a dose of 100 micrograms, the others a placebo.

The United States, the world's most afflicted country with more than 146,000 deaths and where the number of new daily cases is skyrocketing, has announced in recent months massive investments aimed at immunizing Americans since early next year.

Efficiency and safety

On Wednesday, the German-American alliance Biontech / Pfizer had remarkably declared that the United States government would pay her $ 1.95 billion to guarantee 100 million doses of her possible vaccine.

Although the vaccine race is unleashed between several laboratories around the world, Moderna is at the forefront, it is already entering this final phase of clinical trials, which is decisive in determining whether it is effective and safe.

The trial, which is conducted in collaboration with U.S. health authorities, recalls the company, which reaffirms being able to provide some 500 million doses per year, and potentially up to a billion, starting in 2021.

Chinese Sinovac also announced on July 6 that phase three of its vaccine development would begin this month, in collaboration with Brazil's Butantan. Other projects have shown encouraging results, including a British vaccine developed by the University of Oxford in association with the AstraZeneca laboratory, and a Chinese one, led by researchers from various organizations, including the Military School of Sciences. medical devices, funded by the Hong Kong biotech group CanSino Biologics.

In total, almost 200 candidate vaccines have been developed, including 23 in the clinical phase, that is, tested in humans.