Updated: September 20, 2020 10:20:21 am
The Novavax vaccine candidate is currently in phase 2 clinical trials in South Africa. (AP Photo: Taimy Alvarez / File)
Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker: The trials in India of a candidate vaccine being developed by the American company Novavax are likely to start in late October, the government said in Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Novavax vaccine candidate is currently in phase 2 clinical trials in South Africa. Phase 3 global trials are expected to begin next month. In India, Novavax has signed an agreement with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India for the production of 100 million doses of the vaccine. At least 50 percent of this is expected to go to supplies within India.
“The ICMR and the SII (Serum Institute of India) have partnered for the clinical development of a vaccine with adjuvanted nanoparticles of glycol-protein subunits developed by Novavax of the USA. The trial will begin in the second half of October after the Serum Institute makes the vaccine. The trial is led by ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, ”said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in Parliament.
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This is the second candidate vaccine for which clinical trials have been planned in India. Serum is already testing a candidate vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in combined phase 2 and phase 3 trials. The trials had to stop briefly after one of the trial participants in England reported serious illness. But it has now resumed.
In addition to these, two vaccine candidates developed by Indian companies, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila, are currently in combined phase 1 and phase 2 trials.
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After Moderna, Pfizer now publishes detailed information on its vaccine trials
After Moderna released a 135-page document on Thursday providing details on the ongoing phase 3 trials of its coronavirus candidate vaccine, Pfizer has now presented similar information, publishing the full roadmap of how the trials are being conducted. .
The two documents contain information on the criteria used to select trial participants, how they are being monitored, and the evidence that will be used to evaluate whether the vaccine is effective.
Typically, companies share such information only after trials are over, but these two developers’ move appears to have been driven by persistent skepticism about coronavirus vaccines due to the speed with which they are being developed.
In its document, Moderna has said that it hopes to know the effectiveness of its vaccine by December. Pfizer has previously said that it expects effectiveness data to be available by the end of October.
Both vaccine candidates are in phase 3 trials in the United States at this time, and are expected to be among the first vaccines ready and available for public use.
Search for the coronavirus vaccine: the story so far
Like September 18
- 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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