[ad_1]
Scientists only see the end of the crown pandemic if there is an effective vaccine on the market.
But how long will it take?
Infectology professor Marylyn Addo (49) from Hamburg UKE told BILD: “If all goes well, a vaccine could be on the market next year.” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke cautiously and optimistically about the “end of 2020” on Easter weekend.
▶ ︎ However, researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK are confident that the vaccine will be ready in September.
In the next two weeks, scientists want to test the serum on humans for the first time.
Work on a vaccine
Before a vaccine is ready for mass vaccinations, it goes through a total of six steps (see chart).
Here are some examples:
▶ ︎ The American company Moderna is already at step four and, by testing the vaccine on volunteers, the Chinese company CanSinBIO is equally far away. Moderna produces a gene-based vaccine, as does the American company Inovio, which plans to start its first clinical trial in April.
▶ ︎ China also approved two more vaccines for human testing during Easter. The tissues would be developed by a Beijing-based Sinovac biotechnology unit and the Institute for Biological Products.
▶ ︎ In Germany, the research focus of the Tübingen CureVac company (450 employees) by SAP founder and Hoffenheim investor Dietmar Hopp (79) should be particularly promising. The company is working on an mRNA vaccine: the cells are encoded with selected genetic information from the virus, which is then injected. “The body should form a protein that fights the virus,” says Schüller. The clinical trial phase could start in early summer. It is not yet clear how long it will take for the product to reach the market.
▶ ︎ Researchers at the Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNtech are also on the verge of a breakthrough. They plan to test their coronavirus vaccine on up to 150 people for the first time in late April. Employees also work on weekends.
▶ ︎ British tobacco company British American Tobacco (BAT) works with its American biotech subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) on a vaccine, and uses tobacco plants for this. KBP has cloned part of the genetic sequence of the new coronavirus and on this basis developed a so-called antigen, which triggers an immune response in the body and the production of antibodies. The antigen was then used for replication in tobacco plants.
The vaccine is reportedly in preclinical testing. It has not yet been tested in patients and has not yet received approval from health authorities. If the tests go well, BAT plans to produce one to three million doses of the vaccine per week starting in June. The group wants to work with other partners and authorities.
Antibody therapy
Another approach: obtain antibodies from the blood serum. The basis is said to be the blood of patients who have survived an infection with the coronavirus. Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute, supports this approach: “It is a sensible idea. We have to test all the concepts that we think make sense. “
Because: According to experts, people who have survived an infection with Sars-CoV-2 are likely to be immune to the pathogen initially. As is known today, humans form antibodies after being infected with the coronavirus, explained virologist Melanie Brinkmann of the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig and Friedemann Weber, head of the Institute of Virology at the University of Gießen. It can be assumed that immune protection will last one to two years after infection. This assumption is based on experience with other human coronaviruses.
Hospitals are now looking for volunteers who have had a corona infection and are healthy again.
▶ ︎ As one of the first clinics worldwide, the NRW Heart and Diabetes Center (HDZ) in Bad Oeynhausen received approval to use blood plasma therapy for patients with a severe course of the disease: “In the laboratory, we filter the blood plasma of people, who have already survived the disease, the antibodies and inject them into sick patients, “explains Professor Dr. Cornelius Knabbe, director of HDZ, the principle.
▶ ︎ The Cologne University Hospital is looking for recovered COVID-19 patients for blood plasma donations. Antibodies generated by people recovered against the virus should strengthen the immune system of patients and could have a life-saving effect, such as a passive vaccine, the clinic said on Wednesday. Prerequisite: Donors must have been healthy again for several weeks. Suitability is verified during an exam. Interested parties can send an email to [email protected].
▶ ︎ Münster University Hospital (UKM) is looking for people who have tested positive for the crown, who are now negative or who have had no symptoms for at least ten days. Volunteers can register at the email address [email protected] or on the phone number 0251 8357935.
Antibodies are also being investigated in Lower Saxony to curb the epidemic as quickly as possible. In Braunschweig, the biotech company “Yumab” plans to use antibodies against the coronavirus. Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economic Affairs Bernd Althusmann (53, CDU) visited the startup on Wednesday. “The question is not if, but when it works,” company chief “Yumab” Thomas Schirrmann said Wednesday. Antibodies should slow the development of the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the cells of the body. Schirrmann hopes that human trials will be possible in a few months.
Medication therapy
Antibodies also play a role in drug development. Chinese scientists have identified several antibodies that could be used for a drug to treat COVID-19. Antibodies isolated from the blood of recovered patients could be “extremely effective” in blocking the coronavirus’s ability to enter cells, said Zhang Linqi of Tsinghua University in Beijing. A drug made from it could be used more effectively against respiratory disease than current approaches.
Studies are also underway in China that could confirm the effectiveness of drugs that have already been approved, including the malaria drug Resochin and the drug Kaletra, which is used against HIV. German doctors are also eagerly awaiting the results.
▶ Deutschland In the short term, Germany is supplying a preparation to be used as an alternative against COVID-19. As reported by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, it is the Avigan influenza antiviral tablet, which, according to experience in Asia, generates hope, as well as other preparations. The Federal Ministry of Health is responsible. Avigan has limited approval for use against the crown in Japan and generally prevents the flu virus from replicating in the body. The government in China recently announced that there are promising clinical studies from Wuhan, from where the virus spread.
[ad_2]
