Since the start of the outbreak; researchers, pharma firms, governments all over the world are scrambling to find a treatment. From herbal medications to repurposing older drugs as potential COVID-19 therapies, anything which could possibly save lives is being tested and of course the hunt for a vaccine is on. There are 16 vaccine candidates in clinical evaluations and 125 candidates in preclinical evaluation around the world. (As of June 24, 2020. Source: WHO)
Developing a vaccine is a time-consuming process. Vaccines, on an average, take 10 years to develop. The fastest vaccine ever developed till date was approved for the mumps in 1967, took four years. The latest vaccine developed for an epidemic, Ebola vaccine, also took five years,was approved in 2019. Both the vaccines were developed by Merck.
Though the vaccine is touted as the fastest to develop, developing a vaccine that is safe, effective and producing it in large quantities that the world needs to fight a pandemic is a surmountable challenge. It is interesting to note that there is still no licensed vaccine for an earlier Coronavirus, Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Studies showed that some preliminary SARS vaccines enhanced the disease in model experiments.
That’s why the hunt is on to find the alternative treatment to save people’s lives till the vaccine arrives. And the antibody-based treatments offer an excellent hope. That’s what companies like Regeneron, Eli Lilly, Vir Biotechnology and many more from USA, Europe and Asia Pacific are working on antibodies for COVID-19.
Why antibodies?
This story is from the July 2020 edition of BioSpectrum Asia.
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This story is from the July 2020 edition of BioSpectrum Asia.
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