Front-Runners Emerge in the Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine

[Jm954]

Herd immunity via a vaccine that produces a good immune response is the best way forward for CLL and other immunocompromised patients all over the world.

From WIRED Science Science 05.08.2020

Two leading candidates are headed for mass clinical trials, and everything’s on the table—including deliberately infecting healthy vaccine volunteers. An inoculated public could get back to work, stop sheltering in place, resume normal life.

Developing a safe, effective vaccine against a new pathogen typically takes years, if not decades. That’s because, unlike with experimental treatments, it’s impossible to know right away if a vaccine has worked. During testing, researchers have to wait for participants to encounter the real virus in the wild, which if people are sheltering in place or an outbreak has ended, can take a very long time.

in the face of the current global pandemic, scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and regulators are sprinting at record-shattering speeds to test hundreds of vaccine candidates. Without clinical trial data, it’s impossible to predict which contenders will emerge from the onslaught of experiments as the most successful. For the front-runners, that information could arrive as early as this fall.

Boston biopharma company Moderna announced that its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, had been cleared by the FDA to move into a Phase II trial. The study, which will begin enrolling 600 participants in the coming weeks putting it neck and neck with the current coronavirus vaccine leader: Oxford University’s Jenner Institute. Scientists there had a head start, as The New York Times reported last month. Having already acquired safety data from human trials of similar vaccines for the related coronavirus that causes MERS, Oxford researchers convinced British regulators to push forward with a large Phase II study involving 6,000 people while the outbreak in the UK is still raging. The vaccine is based on a technology that involves genetically modifying a harmless virus to create a SARS-CoV-2 look-alike that doesn’t cause disease but does trigger an immune response.

A lot more information here: wired.com/story/frontrunner...

Jackie

[Hidden]

the problem with the Moderna one is technically it's not a vaccine-live or dead.

the way it works-as i understand-might be something people with blood cancers could not use.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to Hidden]

This is encouraging research and we should be able to use the Moderna vaccine. I don't see any practical difference between "genetically modifying a harmless virus to create a SARS-CoV-2 look-alike that doesn’t cause disease but does trigger an immune response" and triggering an immune response from a dead virus, or dead virus particles that doesn't cause a disease, such as in the flu and pneumonia vaccines we already safely take.

[gardening-girl in reply to Hidden]

IVFN, I am not aware of any reason that an mRNA vaccine would be contraindicated for someone with CLL. Someone with CLL might not generate as strong an immune response, but that could be true for any type of vaccine. Below are a couple of references about mRNA vaccines in general:

RNA vaccines: an introduction: phgfoundation.org/briefing/...

And more in depth:

REVIEW ARTICLE - Advances in mRNA Vaccines for Infectious Diseases

Front. Immunol., 27 March 2019 | doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019....

[Psmithuk]

Well done those who volunteer to take part. Thank you all!

[blowinginthewind in reply to Psmithuk]

My thoughts exactly, a couple of weeks ago the news showed 2 people having their first dose of the Oxford vaccine. And my eyes were leaking because them being willing to do that, and being the very first people, might save my life by stopping me getting the virus. I know we are a long way to go, but but it was the enormity of what they were willing to do for humanity.

[CLLerinOz Administrator]

I’ve just read a very recent article about Covid vaccines that I found really helpful. It provides a snapshot of the ten vaccine ‘front runners’ currently being developed.

It’s also helpful as it explains the differences between the various types of vaccines in development: genetic vaccines, viral vector vaccines and inactivated vaccines.

It’s looking as if it might to be important for a range of vaccines to be manufactured, perhaps because some vaccines may suit some populations better than others but also because it may be necessary to maximise vaccine availability by using all existing production facilities.

You can read the details here:

abc.net.au/news/health/2020...

[CLLerinOz Administrator]

Hi Jackie,

This morning, I read something that I think is relevant to this post.

abc.net.au/news/2020-06-18/...

The article, published by Australia's ABC in mid June, is so easy to understand. I thought I'd share it here to help others who, like me, might struggle to get their heads around how vaccines work and how vaccines for the same virus might differ from each other.

It has great graphics and simple language and really helped me to visualise B Cells, T Cells, Antibodies, Macrophages and the role they play in how a vaccine works.

It also goes through the differences between active, inactive and RNA vaccines and explains the different risks and benefits of each type, both in terms of manufacturing them and in terms of patient response.

While it mightn't address the matter directly, it also helped me to understand better why getting a good response from a vaccine is such a challenge for immunocompromised patients.

The encouraging thing, though, is that, because the newer RNA vaccines, in particular, are being developed with great collaboration and without the strictures of waiting months or years for published studies, the development of vaccines for Coronavirus is beating all speed records. Also, there will be so many spinoffs from what the researchers learn that could, definitely, improve the way some cancers are treated in the future.

Just in the short time since you wrote your post, the number of potentially viable vaccines has grown with the team of 'front runners' now almost 20 in a field of about 20, with a number in Phase II and even Phase III trials. That's got to be a good sign.

[Jm954 Administrator in reply to CLLerinOz]

Anne,

that is a brilliant article and I think you should post it on a separate thread so that everyone sees it.

Jackie

[CLLerinOz Administrator in reply to Jm954]

Thanks, Jackie. Will do!