A new COVID-19 vaccine now proceeds to phase 2 human trial--spearheaded by U.S.-based firm Moderna.
Talking about vaccines, it is generally known that it would take years and several breakthroughs to be able to find the right formula for the vaccine to work for the entire human population. However, this might not be the case for the novel coronavirus since governments around the world are pulling all their resources because of the pandemic disrupting our way of life.
New Vaccine is Proceeds to Human Trials With High Hopes
Moderna, the biotechnology company responsible for developing a new vaccine, said it has already initiated human vaccine trials. It claimed that the study showed successful results as all patients developed antibodies against the virus.
The biotech company had been aiming to create a vaccine capable of making the immune system produce antibodies that can eliminate the virus. During the trial, the participants should develop antibodies that deter the spread of the virus and serve as a safeguard against the future strains of the virus.
Moderna has been focusing its efforts on the Spike protein that the coronavirus is using to enter the human cells. Antibodies that specifically target spike proteins will attach to Spike and deter it from attaching to your vulnerable cells. The biotech company has tested over three different vaccine dosages from the 45 study volunteers, and all of them now carry antibodies that neutralize the coronavirus.
How Did Moderna Develop The Vaccine
The biotech company's approach is using the viral RNA as its key for success instead of using the finished virus particle. Since all of the current vaccines that are used in humans use all or most of the target virus to train the immune system, the RNA vaccine is, in theory, faster to mass-produce.
Quicky Science lesson for you, RNA is in between DNA and proteins, which allows immune cells to take up foreign DNA that causes them to produce the essential viral proteins and trigger an immune response.
This is exactly what Moderna has done. They isolated a segment genetic material dubbed mRNA-1273 that came from the SARS-CoV-2 to be used for the Spike protein-then administered 25, 100, and 250 micrograms of mRNA-1273 to the volunteers. With surprising success from all volunteers, they all developed antibodies similar to people who have recovered from COVID-19.
The only side effect of the drug administration was minor redness and slight pain from the site of the injection to those who received a higher dosage. So the next phase would be to test doses from 25 to 100 micrograms.
As of now, this is the very first COVID-19 vaccine that passed the first round of clinical trials despite the numerous potential vaccines out there. On an accelerated timeline, Moderna is hoping to test larger groups of people in the coming weeks.
The next phase will involve 600 volunteers and may expand to 1,000 in July. The company, along with the public health officials, will thoroughly evaluate the data before lifting the vaccine's access for public use. So the best-case scenario is that the vaccine for the novel coronavirus which has caused this worldwide pandemic might have a vaccine this year or early 2021.
