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Developing a coronavirus vaccine propels scientists to peak performance. This can also be seen in the conversation with Lukas Jaggi from the Swissmedic Therapeutic Products Institute. He says there is hope that a vaccine to protect against Covid-19 will be available in the middle to the end of next year.
SRF News: How long does it take on average to develop a vaccine?
Lukas Jaggi: Normally we wait six to eight years, at best. At Corona, nearly 30 vaccine candidates are already in clinical trials, meaning they’re being tested in humans. This means that the preclinical phase, which normally lasts only five years, was completed in about six months under the urgency. The development times are not comparable to anything we have seen in the past.
What is needed before a vaccine can be approved?
This takes place in internationally harmonized phases. It begins with the preclinical phase. The tolerance of the new vaccine is tested in the laboratory and in animal experiments. Then there are three phases called clinical. In phase 1, the vaccine will first be tested on a small group of volunteers.
There are now 165 vaccine candidates registered on the WHO list. That is an incredible number.
In phase 2 you have up to a few hundred test subjects. The main thing is to better know the immune reaction and the dose. Phase 3 is the final phase with thousands of subjects. As a general rule, one subject is given the vaccine and the other group is given a placebo. The objective is to know the efficacy, quality and safety of the candidate vaccine.
People all over the world are waiting for a vaccine to protect against Covid-19. Isn’t there a risk of missing something, because everything should go fast?
It is conceivable that a vaccine can only be approved for a specific indication, for example, that only certain age and population groups are tested and only published for this group; and then possibly testing other population groups and expanding the indication.
In particular, rare side effects are often only seen later, when a new active ingredient is used in a larger population group.
It is also important that after approval has been granted, side effects are carefully and closely monitored. Because we all know that no drug is without side effects. In particular, rare side effects are often only seen later, when a new active ingredient is used in a larger population group.
Do you dare to predict when we will have a vaccine against the coronavirus?
It’s very difficult to say. It depends on the results of individual clinical studies. Another challenge is the production of sufficient quantities of vaccines and, last but not least, the distribution: almost eight billion people are potential recipients of such a vaccine. If all goes well, we can expect to have enough good quality vaccines in a given country by the middle to the end of next year.
Interview by Raphaël Günther.
