Updated: September 22, 2020 9:16:23 am
Moscow: An injection of Russia’s experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is shown before use in Moscow, Russia (AP)
Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker: At least ten countries in Asia, South America and the Middle East have signed agreements to access Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The list of countries includes India where Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, based in Hyderabad has partnered with vaccine developers to conduct late-stage trials and then distribute 100 million doses of the vaccine. Russian developers are also looking for a Indian partner to manufacture the vaccine in India.
Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are among other countries that have reached agreements to bring the Russian vaccine to their people, according to the report. In addition, Russia has claimed that about ten more countries were negotiating to buy the vaccine from it. It has said it has received requests, or expressions of interest, for about 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine so far, according to the report.
Sputnik V was the first coronavirus vaccine to obtain the regulatory approval for public use in the second week of August, although China had allowed the limited use of at least one vaccine before that.
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AstraZeneca reveals details of its ongoing vaccine trials, the third company to make such unusual disclosure
Following in the steps from Moderna and Pfizer, the drug lord AstraZeneca has also published detailed disclosures about its ongoing coronavirus vaccine trials. These candidate vaccines from these three companies are the only ones that have entered phase 3 clinical trials in the United States. They are also expected to be the first to introduce a coronavirus vaccine.
Vaccine developers generally do not provide details of the procedures and methodologies followed for clinical trials until they publish their results. But in light of persistent skepticism about a coronavirus vaccine, primarily for speed With which they are produced, and the enormous political interest in getting an early vaccine, companies are forced to adopt greater transparency in their processes.
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A sign with the AstraZeneca Plc logo stands on the company’s DaVinci building at Melbourn Science Park in Cambridge, UK (Photographer: Jason Alden / Bloomberg)
Even more so in the case of AstraZeneca, whose clinical trials around the world had to be slow earlier this month, after one of the participants in England serious diseases. Although the tests in the UK has resumed Following a review by an independent team of experts, as well as by the country’s drug regulation, the company has faced criticism for its reluctance to share complete information about the incident. Although the tests in India, South Africa and Brazil have also resumed, those are yet to restart in the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ordered its own investigation.
Last week Moderna, followed by Pfizer, published detailed information on its ongoing trials, including the overall design, the criteria used to select trial participants, how they are being monitored, and the evidence that will be used to evaluate if your vaccine is effective.
182 candidate vaccines in clinical or preclinical trials (Photographer: Silvio Avila / AFP via Getty Images)
Search for the coronavirus vaccine: the story so far
- 182 candidate vaccines in clinical or preclinical trials
- 36 of them in clinical trials
- Nine in the final stages, phase III human trials
- At least eight potential vaccines are under development in India. Two of them have entered phase II trials after completing phase I.
The most commented:
* AstraZeneca / University of Oxford
* Modern
* Pfizer / BioNTech
* Johnson and Johnson
* Sanofi / GlaxoSmithKline
* Novavax
* Russian vaccine, developed by Gamaleya Insttiute in Moscow
* Three Chinese vaccines that have been approved for use in China without the completion of phase 3 trials. One of them has received authorization for emergency use in the UAE.
(As of September 18; source: WHO Coronavirus Vaccine Overview of September 18, 2020)
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