The race to find an effective vaccine for Covid-19 began almost a year back when the disease was first detected in China and shook the medical community by providing every existing drug and vaccine already ineffective. Research teams and pharmaceutical companies have been working day and night endlessly to come up with a potential vaccine in order to save millions from the deadly disease. There are heated up conversations doing rounds around every country about distribution and availability issues once a medically trusted vaccine comes up. But the question still stands the same : When will a vaccine be available?
So, let's have a look at the trajectory of some notable pharmaceutical companies since the beginning.
But first here is a tracker for the number of trials taken place in every phase as of November :
Pre-clinical : vaccines not yet human trials - 164
Phase 1 : vaccines in small-scale safety trials - 40
Phase 2 : vaccines in expanded safety trials - 20
Phase 3 : vaccines in large scale efficacy trials - 12
Approved : vaccines approved for general use - 0
Even though the race began with over 170 companies from India and abroad, all of it has eventually come down to a notable few names. Companies in Phase-3 are most likely to deliver a vaccine soon but the interesting fact is that the race does not finish there, it actually begins from there. Experts have speculated that it is not necessary for the first available vaccine to be the most efficient one. It all depends on the immunity levels the vaccine offers, so even if a company is not able to deliver one in the first place, it might be able to come up with something more efficient but a little while later. Nevertheless, here's a list of top companies involved in the making of the first ever Covid vaccine :
- Pfizer-BioNTech
German biotechnology company, BioNTech in partnership with American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently became the first ones to claim 95% efficiency in their vaccine shots during Phase-3 trials. If reports are to be believed, their vaccine delivery might even start before Christmas. Earlier backed by Trump, they bad said that their vaccine would be available before US elections but that did not happen.This merger has already signed contracts with EU, UK, US and Japan for deliveries of hundred millions of vaccine shots and is currently in talks with India.
- Moderna Therapeutics
This Massachusetts-based firm making vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) has also been one of the frontrunners in the race to develop a vaccine currently in Phase 3 trials. Beginning the process in January, its vaccine was proved effective on monkeys and human trials began in July. Moderna has an edge over Pfizer in that its vaccine can stay stable in any environment whereas Pfizer requires deep-freezing conditions. Showing 94.5% efficacy results in preliminary analysis, Moderna plans to submit an Emergency Use Authorization application in a few weeks.
- Bharat Biotech
In partnership with ICMR, India-based Bharat Biotech's vaccine COVAXIN entered Phase III trials across the country involving 26,000 volunteers. The largest clinical trial conducted for a Covid vaccine in India, they are expected to launch their vaccine in the second quarter of 2021. Although lagging behind in the international race, this pharmaceutical partnered with US based FluGen in April for vaccine development and got ICMR approval in May. It continued Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials after June and can prove to be a good deal for the country if they are able to come up with an effective vaccine.
- AstraZeneca
British-Swedish pharmaceutical confirmed third phase testing for their potential vaccines in collaboration with Oxford University in July 2020. However, they had to pause trials in early September because a participant in Britain in phase 2/3 was diagnosed with inflammation of the spinal cord which led to a setback for them in the race. AstraZeneca was criticized for safety issues after further serious cases were reported but they continued with the trials and currently some of their shots have shown promising immune response among elderly aged above 56.
- Serum Institute of India
The world's largest vaccine producer by number of doses has tied up with AstraZeneca and Oxford University to provide 100 million doses of vaccine in the country first. Headed by Adar Poonawala, it recently stated that vaccine shots for health care workers would be made available as early as February, 2021. Poonawala has also mentioned that probably by 2024, every Indian would have been vaccinated. The public price for the vaccine is estimated to be $5-$6 per dose making it affordable and also safe to store in a cold storage.
