Researchers, companies and governments across the world are racing to develop vaccine to neutralize the pandemic coronavirus. Development of a new vaccine usually takes years, but judging by the pace it seems the turnaround time could be much less this time. Moderna, a US-based biotech firm says that its initial human vaccine trial has been a success. In the first phase, the vaccine developed antibodies against the virus.
Like all other vaccine researchers around the globe, Moderna focused its efforts on the Spike protein that coronavirus uses to enter cells. Coronavirus uses different proteins to reproduce and occupy cells. The spike protein is the major surface protein that coronavirus uses to bind to a receptor. A receptor is a kind of protein that acts as a doorway into human cells. Moderna studied and tested three different vaccine dosages across 45 study participants, and all of them have developed neutralizing antibodies.The vaccine development approach of the Moderna relies on viral RNA in place of the finished virus particle.
The study tested three dosage strengths 25μg, 100μg and 250μg on patients, and it is observed that all the patients developed antibody level similar to the patients recovered from coronavirus. Some minor side-effects were redness and injection site pain among those patients who receive the highest dose.
This vaccine successfully cleared the first round of clinical trials. Moderna expects to begin testing on a larger scale in the coming weeks. The next phase of clinical trials will include 600 people, expanding to as many as 1,000 in July. Before launching the vaccine, the company and public health officials will evaluate and confirm all the data. As per the reports, the vaccine could be available later this year or in early 2021.
