Much headway in quest for vaccine: Drugmakers might be one step away from the Covid remedy

The Covid-19 pandemic rages on in India with the country reporting over 2 lakh new cases and 3,785 deaths this week. In this gloomy situation, hopes for a cure have brightened with encouraging developments in both fronts, vaccines and drugs.

SERUM INSTITUTE GETS READY FOR AZ-OXFORD VACCINE TRIAL
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine maker, is readying the groundwork for the Phase III clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. During the previous two trial phases, the vaccine managed to trigger an immune response among the participants and was established as safe. SII is awaiting approvals from the drug controller to start the trials in August. It expects to produce 400 million doses by December if the effi cacy of the vaccine is proven.

INTERFERON-BASED THERAPIES
Interferon-based therapies, commonly used in the treatment of infectious diseases such as Hepatitis C, have been successful in reducing deaths among severe Covid-19 patients. A paper published in the journal Cell said researchers from China found that early administration of interferon-a (alpha) 2b led to reduced mortality among severely ill patients. They also found that the therapy administered after fi ve days of hospitalisation led to higher deaths. India’s Zydus Cadila is running trials in India and Mexico.

PFIZER AND CANSINO RELEASE INITIAL RESULTS
US drug and vaccine company Pfizer and China’s CanSino reported encouraging data from the preliminary Phase I and II studies of their vaccine candidates. The Pfi zer trials conducted on 60 participants in partnership with Germany’s BioNtech showed higher immune response comparable to a recovered Covid-19 patient. CanSino, too, reported similar results. These companies will now take the trials to Brazil, China and Bangladesh.