Medical Developments in the Fight Against COVID-19


Development of a vaccine for the novel disease coronavirus has become a public health priority, and pharmaceutical companies and researchers across the country are hard at work. After the development of the vaccine and preclinical testing, there are three phases of human testing before it is submitted to the FDA for approval. According to the doctors at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the earliest a coronavirus vaccine would be deployable would be a year to a year and a half from now. Even as countries entertain the thought of relaxing lockdown and restarting life within the COVID era, the novel coronavirus continues to say more lives. As of now, COVID-19 has infected about 4.5 million people across the planet and caused 3,03,651 fatalities. Until there’s a vaccine for this novel disease it is up to us to protect ourselves. Following CDC guidelines and using medical essentials like sanitizers, masks, disposable bed sheet, and disposable bags can help us stay safe.

Currently, the top candidates for COVID-19 vaccination are:-

  1. mRNA-1273- This has received approval from the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) to conduct the phase 2 clinical trials of its potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate. It is important to notice that Moderna has already conducted phase 1 trials of its vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 in Seattle, Washington.

  1. Novavax Inc- One of the top candidates of the potential COVID-19 vaccine, Novavax Inc recently received funding of 388 million dollars from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation. Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, said that the vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 has shown promising results.

  1. INOVIO Pharmaceuticals is also in a process of creating a DNA-based vaccine candidate in its San Diego lab. The Plymouth Meeting-based biopharmaceutical company completed phase 1 of a clinical study on 40 healthy volunteers. Phase 2 is set to take place in the last week of May where the 40 volunteers are going to be injected with its vaccine candidate INO-4800.

  1. BNT162- US drug maker Pfizer has teamed up with a German company BNTECH to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Both the businesses are working together on four RNA vaccine candidates. Their vaccine candidate ‘BNT162’ is predicated on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and therefore the company has already begun clinical trials in Germany. They are getting to start dosing patients for the US-based clinical trials in early July.

  1. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19- A potential coronavirus vaccine is being developed by the University of Oxford and it has partnered up with UK-based AstraZeneca for the same. It is interesting to note that the vaccine ‘ChAdOx1 nCoV-19’ was generated within three months by the University’s Jenner Institute. To make the vaccine work, the scientists used a weakened strain of cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees. While a clinical test on humans already began in late April, the doctors conducted a crucial trial on monkeys.

  1. London based cigarette company British American Tobacco has also developed a vaccine using protein from tobacco leaves and is ready for a human trial. The company said that its experimental vaccine has shown a positive immune response in the pre-clinical trial and now they are waiting for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after which it might proceed to phase 1 trial on humans.

  1. Bacille Calmette-Guérin- India will begin clinical trials of its Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine on 6000 high-risk individuals. It will be done to understand its safety and efficacy in boosting immunity in the fight against COVID-19 disease and whether or not the BCG shots can reduce the severity of this highly infectious disease. The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is used against tuberculosis to boost the immunity of the individual. Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) has teamed up with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. One of the world’s largest vaccine makers of the world by volume, Pune’s Serum Institute of India is working with the University of Oxford to make millions of potential coronavirus vaccine doses. The Indian government has also allocated Rs 100 crore from the PM-CARES fund to support the initiative of producing a COVID vaccine.

Our life post coronavirus won’t return to normal soon and we have to equip ourselves with essential gear to make sure that we’re ready to fight against this virus. Online medical stores like www.smartmedicalbuyer.com are providing every crucial product or technology that should be present at our homes and at the hospitals from surgical hand sanitizers to disposable plastic bedsheets, from safety goggles to infrared thermometer everything is available. Researchers, scientists, and doctors are doing their best and so should we.


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