Vaccine Against the Coronavirus May Take Five Years

A vaccine against the coronavirus may take Five Years

Demand for vaccines and other drugs for the new coronavirus and covid-19 disease is high. Currently, there are no approved ones on the market and are not expected to wait in the near future, even if the development is accelerated.

“If we talk about a completed vaccine that is approved and clear by the authorities and that has undergone all the necessary studies, it will take at least five years,”.

Corona vaccine, not the only option

However, this does not mean that healthcare is complete without treatment options. Instead, patients with covid-19 disease have been treated with pre-existing antiviral drugs such as the Kaletra HIV drug (lopinavir, ritornavir) and / or the experimental drug remdesivir.

Exactly how effective they are against covid-19 is not yet known, but this must be systematically evaluated.

Two clinical trials with remdesivir have recently been initiated in China, where the substance is to be tested in a group of severely ill patients and in one with average patients.

According to the World Health Organization WHO, remdesivir is the most promising drug candidate against covid-19 right now.

New technology for vaccines

Among the vaccine projects that have come the longest in development is one that is run by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna together with, among others, Astrazeneca and MSD. It is a type of RNA vaccine and the method involves producing messenger RNA (mRNA) for the antigen that you want to create an immune response to.

This is injected into a muscle where, with the help of the body’s own ribosomes, it produces the protein (antigen) that is then shown to the immune system and causes an immune response, a technique the World of Medicine has told about before.

Here, a first vaccine candidate with an RNA vaccine against the new coronavirus has been produced in a very short time.

The companies will begin clinical trials with the RNA vaccine at the end of April. Then on a small group of healthy subjects to study safety and antibody responses.

But even though no approved drugs for the coronavirus will develop within the next few years, there is, as mentioned, the possibility for patients to receive treatment within the framework of clinical trials.

However, what that opportunity will look like for the general public remains to be seen. A prerequisite for a study to be conducted in many countries is that there are a sufficient number of patients. The slim patient base can thus be to the detriment.

It all depends on how the trial looks.

Another way for potential patients to gain access to the experimental drugs is within the framework of a so-called “compassionate use” program. This means that pharmaceutical companies provide unapproved medicines to patients who lack other treatment options.

“In Italy and Spain, the possibility of using compassionate use programs is now being considered to ensure that patients with covid-19 receive treatment,”.