Scientists in Italy claims that they have developed a potential coronavirus vaccine by growing antibodies in mice, and the antibodies have shown that it can nix coronavirus cells.
The breakthrough is the first of its kind in the whole world and local pharmaceutical company, Takis, says that lab tests at Rome's infectious-disease Spallanzani Hospital found that their vaccine candidate can neutralize the virus in human cells.
Neutralizing COVID-19
CEO Luigi Aurisicchio told Italian news agency ANSA that it is the first time that researchers have found a way to neutralize the COVID-19 coronavirus by a vaccine. Italian scientists expect the same effects on humans.
The scientists said that their tests showed that with just one vaccination, the mice immediately developed antibodies that can block the virus in human cells. The scientists developed five different vaccines and they chose the two that showed the best results.
The vaccine candidates use a process called electroporation, which is a technique that uses high-voltage electric pulses to make the skin permeable. Electroporation was used to help break into the cells and trigger the immune system.
The report about the discovery of the Italian scientists came after it was announced the researchers worldwide are now racing to create a vaccine to stop the coronavirus pandemic that is now crippling the world. The process that researchers are trying to achieve takes months, if not years, to fulfill.
The virus has now infected more than 3.7 million people worldwide and it has killed more than 250,000 people as of May 6. The United States is now the leading country with the most coronavirus cases with 1,292,996 people infected and 76,948 deaths.
Race for a vaccine
Almost every country in the world is now working on discovering the vaccine for COVID-19. The United Nations launched a collaboration with world leaders and the private sector to develop, produce, and distribute vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for COVID-19 as fast as possible.
The launch came right after the World Health Organization or WHO warned that the world still has a long way to go in the fight against the pandemic. The UN also stated that a coronavirus vaccine may be the only thing that can help the world go back to normal.
The WHO prepared a draft landscape document on May 5, and it shows that there are currently at least 8 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation and 100 candidate vaccines in preclinical evaluation. Out of the 8 candidate vaccines, four of them came from China. China is where the coronavirus originated and they approved clinical trial for the first vaccine in March, and for the two other vaccines in April.
According to WHO's latest document, a fourth vaccine was developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, and it is already in Phase 1 trials.
Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech, which developed one of the two vaccines approved for early-stage human trials in April, said that its vaccine has for the first time protected monkeys from coronavirus infection during their animal trial. In the United States, Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced in April that its vaccine is entering clinical trials.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the second developers in the US to enter the human testing phase. The third is Moderna Therapeutics' candidate vaccine which entered human trials in March.
The University of Oxford began clinical trials for its coronavirus vaccine in April. Germany's Paul-Ehrlich-Institut approved clinical trials for an RNA vaccine developed by German firm Biontech and US giant Pfizer. The vaccine has already entered clinical trials.
