WHO Issues Snapshot of Potential COVID-19 Vaccines

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that there are 70 novel coronavirus vaccines in development around the globe with three already in human trials.

Chinese company CanSino Biologics is currently leading the pack in a collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. The company announced in recent days that its candidate adenovirus vector vaccine, Ad5-nCoV, is about to move into a phase 2 trial.

In the U.S., Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ DNA-based vaccine INO-4800 and Moderna’s mRNA-1273 are the furthest along, with both candidates in phase 1 trials.

The other 67 vaccine hopefuls are still at the preclinical stage, the WHO said, including candidates from leading vaccine developers Pfizer and Sanofi.

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have entered into a partnership to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that includes an adjuvant to boost the immune response. Sanofi will contribute its S-protein COVID-19 antigen while GSK will provide its adjuvant technology.

The drugmakers plan to begin phase 1 clinical trials in the second half of 2020 and hope to have a vaccine available by the second half of 2021. The companies hope to be able to manufacture hundreds of millions of doses annually by the end of next year.

Johnson & Johnson recently announced that it has selected a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate and expects to begin human trials by September at the latest, with the first vaccine batches potentially becoming available for emergency use early next year.

Read the WHO update here: www.fdanews.com/04-14-20-NovelCoronavirusLandscape.pdf. — James Miessler