Worldwide the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 4.2 million lives, destroyed the economies of different countries and put persons in panic.
Researchers and scientists are doing all they can to find a possible vaccine against the covid-19. Pharmaceutical companies like Moderna therapeutics and Novavax are making considerable developments in making a vaccine.
Currently, there are no proven treatments or vaccine to curb the virus and the U.S. health officials say a vaccine could take at least a year. Gilead Sciences on May 1, was granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration for their Antiviral drug Remdesivir.
Moderna earlier this week received “fast – track approval” from the US Food and Drug Administration and is already planning its second phase. Moderna is running human trials for its experimental vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273. This phase II study is aimed at accessing the reactogenicity, safety and immunogenicity of two doses of mRNA-1273 administered 28 days apart.
600 health volunteers will be enrolled by Moderna half will be 18-55 years old and the rest over 55, each participant will be given placebo, a 50ug or a 250ug dose at both vaccinations. The president of research and development for Novavax, Dr. Gregory Glenn said their vaccine has been created from generic sequence of the SARS-COV-2 virus.
He also said that single and double doses of the vaccine was going very well in Baboons and Mice. Novavax’s vaccine is able to stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies and enhance immune response making use of Novavax’s Matrix-M technology.
