Asia Times – April 23, 2020
Breakthrough hopes rise in virus vaccine trials
Clinical tests go ahead in China and across the globe to find a cure for the deadly Covid-19 disease
By GORDON WATTS
Scientists believe they are one step closer to a breakthrough in the race to immunize the human race against the deadly Covid-19 disease. Clinical trials are already underway across the world to find a vaccine to combat the virus.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that a team led by Qin Chuan at China’s National Institutes for Food and Drug Control in Beijing had started human testing in Xuzhou, a major city in Jiangsu province.
“Preclinical tests on non-human primates found that when given at a sufficient dose, the vaccine could provide protection against Sars-CoV-2, [which causes Covid-19],’” a preliminary paper said after being released by the research group on medRxiv.org and reported by the Chinese media.
Gong Xuejie, from project partners Sinovac Biotech, confirmed that the first volunteers were between the ages of 18 to 59.
“Safety checks on the first day after the vaccinations have been completed and preliminary results show the vaccine [candidate] is safe,” Gong told Thepaper.cn, a news website based in Shanghai.
Apart from the partnership between the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control and Sinovac Biotech, two other major trials have entered a second stage in China.
They were rolled out by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and CanSino Bio.
Up to 76 “vaccine candidates” are under development around the world, Science reported. “But public health officials have cautioned that from start to finish, it takes at least one year, and more likely 18 months, to prove whether a candidate is safe and effective. And that’s if no problems surface,” the leading source for scientific, technical and medical research said.
In the United Kingdom, a vaccine developed by Oxford University will enter human trials this week in a £20 million, or US$24.7 million, program funded by the UK government. Imperial College in London has also received £22.5 million in research aid…….
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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