Moderna

Moderna develops vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce viral proteins in the body. They have yet to bring one to the market. The government has bankrolled Moderna’s efforts on a coronavirus vaccine with nearly $1 billion. In partnership with the National Institutes of Health, they found that the vaccine protects monkeys from the coronavirus. In March, the company put the first Covid-19 vaccine into human trials, which yielded promising results, After carrying out a Phase 2 study they launched a Phase 3 trial on July 27. The final trial will enroll 30,000 healthy people at about 89 sites around the United States. On August 11, the government awarded the company an additional $1.5 billion in exchange for 100 million doses of the vaccine proves safe and effective.


CanSino Bio

The Chinese company CanSino Biologics developed a vaccine based on an adenovirus called Ad5, in partnership with the Institute of Biology at the country’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences. In May, they published promising results from a Phase 1 safety trial, and in July they reported that their Phase 2 trials demonstrated the vaccine produced a strong immune response. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese military approved the vaccine on June 25 for a year as an “especially needed drug.” CanSino would not say whether vaccination would be mandatory or optional for soldiers. On August 9, the Saudi health ministry announced that CanSino Biologics would run a Phase 3 trial in Saudi Arabia. The company is in negotiations with other countries for more trials.


AstraZeneca & University of Oxford

A vaccine in development by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1. A study on monkeys found that the vaccine provided them protection. In May, the United States awarded the project $1.2 billion in support. Their Phase 1/2 trial revealed that the vaccine was safe, causing no severe side effects. It raised antibodies against the coronavirus as well as other immune defenses. The vaccine is now in Phase 2/3 trials in England and India, as well as Phase 3 trials in Brazil and South Africa.

If these large-scale trials yield positive results, AstraZeneca has indicated they could deliver emergency vaccines as soon as October. The company has said its total manufacturing capacity for the vaccine, if approved, stands at two billion doses. India’s Serum Institute has already produced millions of doses to be used in trials.

Sinovac

The private Chinese company Sinovac Biotech is testing an inactivated vaccine called CoronaVac. In June the company announced that Phase 1/2 trials on 743 volunteers found no severe adverse effects and produced an immune response. Sinovac then launched a Phase 3 trial in Brazil in July and another in Indonesia the following month. The company is also building a facility to manufacture up to 100 million doses annually.


Wuhan Institute of Biological Products

The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products developed an inactivated virus vaccine, which the state-owned Chinese company Sinopharm put into clinical tests. The Phase 1/2 trial showed that the vaccine produced antibodies in volunteers, some of whom experienced fevers and other side effects. In July, they launched Phase 3 trials in the United Arab Emirates. In the same month, the chairman of Sinopharm told Chinese state media that the vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of the year.


Sinopharm

Sinopharm is also testing a second inactivated virus vaccine, this one developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products. In Phase 3 trials in the United Arab Emirates, 5,000 people are receiving the Wuhan Institute version, while another 5,000 are receiving the Beijing Institute one.


Courtesy for this informations: New York Times