Here are the Top 10 Contenders for the COVID-19 Vaccine

The Coronavirus pandemic is the most serious health crisis the world has experienced in a century. With 12.3 million people tested positive for the virus so far, it has claimed more than 5.5 lakh lives since the beginning of this year. To curb the spread of the disease, most nations of the world went into a nationwide lockdown. However, there is still a huge surge everyday in the number of cases all around the world. 

Scientists in every country have been working tirelessly to find a solution to this alarming situation. As per the DRAFT landscape of COVID-19 report by WHO, about 21 candidate vaccines are in clinical evaluation and 139 in preclinical evaluation. These vaccines are being developed by National governments, Virological institutes, private companies, etc. 

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Here are the top 10 contenders of the COVID-19 vaccine from around the world:

Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Image Courtesy: Clinical Trials Arena

Sinovac is being developed by the Beijing based biopharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech Ltd. It is starting with its Stage III trials in Brazil from Monday. The company is beginning its study with a Brazillian vaccine producer, Instituto Butantan. By the first of half of June, the company was able to successfully conduct the Phase I and II of the human trials which gave positive results.

University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc.

Image Courtesy: MarketWatch

The prestigious British institute and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant are developing the ChAdOx1-s vaccine to fight COVID-19. The vaccine has entered into the final stage of clinical trials and will be given to 10,260 adults and children in the next stage in the UK. The vaccine is made up of ChAdOx1 virus which is a weakened version of common cold causing infections in Chimpanzees.

 

CanSino Biologics Inc.

Image Courtesy: FiercePharma

The Adenovirus Type 5 vector vaccine has been developed jointly by the Chinese vaccine company CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. The clinical trials of the vaccine have shown successful results and thus the vaccine is in its final  stage.

Moderna Inc.

Image Courtesy: The Indian Express

LNP-encapsulated mRNA, developed by Moderna Inc., an American biotech company focused on drug discovery and drug development, is also in the final stage of development. With the vaccine entering the later stages of trial, the vaccine makers have signed an agreement with Spain’s Laboratorios Farmaceuticos Rovi SA to scale up the manufacturing and production of the vaccine.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Image Courtesy: Pharma Journalist

The American biotechnology company, has developed a DNA Plasmid Vaccine with Electroporation which has successfully concluded Phase I and II of clinical study. The company received a funding of $6.9 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations for the research and development of the vaccine.

Novavax Inc.

Image Courtesy: FiercePharma

Novavax Vaccine, developed by the American vaccine company Novavax Inc., stands as one of the top contenders for the COVID-19 vaccine. The company has recently been awarded over $1.6 billion by the United States government to support the manufacturing and commercial sale of their vaccine under clinical trials.

Pfizer and BNTECH

Image Courtesy: PharmaShots

Four vaccines are being developed by the US drugmaker Pfizer and the German company BNTECH. Both the companies are gearing up for the late stage trials for its vaccine. They will be dosing 360 healthy individuals as a part of the trial. In an interview with TIME, the CEO of Pfizer said that they should be able to gather enough data by September to conclude if the vaccine is working or not.

Bharat Biotech and ICMR

Image Courtesy: Times Now

The first indigenously developed vaccine of India, Covaxin, is being developed by the Indian biotechnology giant, Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council for Medical Research. The vaccine recently received an approval for the human trials, which it has already begun at the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad. The deadline for the results of the trials has been kept at August 15.

Zydus Cadila

Image Courtesy: Dalal Street

The Gujarat based pharmaceutical company is another contender for the COVID-19 vaccine. The company has developed ZyCoV-D vaccine for which it has received approval for human trials recently. The chairman of the company, Pankaj R Patel said in an interview that the trials would be conducted over the course of three months.

Sinopharm

Image Courtesy: SeeNews

China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) has two vaccines in line for the human trials to beat the novel Coronavirus. The group is planning to begin with Phase 3 large scale human testing in the United Arab Emirates. The organization has also built two plants in Wuhan and Beijing for a full blown production of the vaccine. With both the plants in place, it would have a capacity of producing more than 200 million doses annually.