Coronavirus Update: Companies and Their Progress on the Development of a Vaccine

We're all cooped up at home, while frontliners tend to patients in hospitals and make sure we have food on our table. And while we are all eager to leave our homes, and see our friends and loved ones, pharmaceutical companies scramble to develop a vaccine or, possibly, a cure to the pandemic that is caused by coronavirus.

The Search for Coronavirus Vaccines

In just a few months, coronavirus has infected more than 4.4 million people in the world and claimed the lives of almost 300 thousand people. Although U.S. officials say that the development of a vaccine could take around 12 to 18 months, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of remdesivir for emergency use. This was after a clinical trial yielded results showing that patients treated with the said drug recovered after 11 days--that's 4 days earlier than the average recovery of those who did not take remdesivir.

However, the use of remdesivir, an originally antiviral drug, has not yet received formal approval from the FDA. So researchers still need to provide more information on the drug's safety and effectiveness before getting fully approved.

In the meantime, here is a list of companies around the world that are developing vaccines and drugs in the hopes of eliminating COVID-19.

1. Moderna

With 45 volunteers in a human trial, Moderna nears the end of the trial's first phase. It has also been approved to start the second phase, which will involve a larger population of 600 volunteers later this month or early next month.

Moderna is developing an mRNA vaccine as part of the company's objective to make its potential as a vaccine known. In the past few years, Moderna has been demonstrated this potential through clinical trials.

2. Johnson & Johnson

The pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson, has begun the development of its modified adenovirus vaccine in January. In September, the company is expected to start Phase 1 of its clinical trial and projects to produce 600 to 900 million doses in April next year.

3. Inovio Pharmaceutical

Next to Moderna, Inovio was the second to be allowed to have its potential vaccine to undergo human testing, which began in early April.

Right now, it is in its first phase of trials. The company is developing INO-4800, a potential vaccine made by adding some genetic material from coronavirus into synthetic DNA. Inovio researchers employed this method under the theory that the immune system will develop antibodies against the virus.

4. Oxford University

Oxford University, along with Imperial College London, is funded by the British Government to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. Already in its first phase of trials, the Oxford team aims to produce 1 million doses by September.

5. Pfizer

Pfizer has teamed up with German drugmaker BioNTech to begin testing its BNT162 vaccine earlier this month. Similar to Moderna, Pfizer is using an mRNA vaccine. They are also expecting to produce millions of vaccines by the end of 2020.

6. Sanofi and GSK

Two well-known pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi and GSK, have recently teamed up to create a vaccine against COVID-19. The joint effort is expected to start clinical trials by July.

The company duo will be repurposing Sanofi's previous SARS vaccine, which unfortunately did not reach the market. At the same time, GSK will employ technology that is expected to improve immunity.

They are projecting to produce up to 600 million doses by 2021.

7. Novavax

Early last month, Novavax has announced its plans to start human trials this May for a potential vaccine they are calling NVX-CoV2373. The company is using adjuvant technology, similar to what GSK is using.