Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

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The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

President Donald Trump said that he believes some states will be able to lift the strict social distancing measures that have strained their economies before the end of April.

"The plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized," Trump said at a press briefing on the virus in the Rose Garden.

"I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly," Trump said, "And I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state at a time and in a manner as most appropriate."

"The day will be very close because certain states as you know are in a much different condition and are in a much different place than other states. It's going to be very very close. Maybe even before the date of May 1st," he said.Kevin Breuninger

San Francisco is canceling its annual Pride Parade, which celebrates the city's LGBTQ+ communities, for the first time. It typically takes place in June and this year was the event's 50th anniversary.

"It will be incredibly disappointing to not be able to celebrate Pride in person this year but we need to do what is best for the health and safety of everyone involved," Mayor London Breed tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Event organizers have decided to participate in "Virtual Global Pride" on Saturday, June 27 in its place.Jennifer Elias

President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 14, 2020.

Leah Millis | Reuters

The Trump administration will halt funding to the World Health Organization as it evaluates the agency's "role in severely mismanaging" the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump announced.

"Today I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump said at a press conference.

Trump criticized the international agency's response to the outbreak, saying"one of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations."Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Noah Higgins-Dunn

When the economy shut down, consumers also shut down.

Despite hoarding of groceries, toilet paper and other necessities, the abrupt drop in consumer spending last month at restaurants, stores and gas stations is expected to have resulted in the largest decline ever in monthly retail sales, according to Diane Swonk chief economist at Grant Thornton.

Economists expect a decline of 8% in March retail sales, according to Dow Jones. That compares to a half percent decline in February. If autos are excluded, sales were expected to be down 5.2% in March.

The retail sales data, expected at 8:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, is one of the most important readings of consumer activity. The consumer makes up about 70% of the U.S. economy and since mid-March, many Americans have been at home.

Many have lost their jobs with 17 million workers filing for unemployment over the three weeks ending April 4.

"The risk is to the downside," Swonk said. "We could get worse than we are expecting. As things shut down, people are also pulling in."Patti Domm

Junior's Cheesecakeowner Alan Rosen said that the money the restaurant company has received through the Treasury Department'ssmall business loan program is not enough to immediately bring workers off furlough.

There is too much uncertainty about when the coronavirus pandemic will subside and when people will be comfortable to "sit shoulder to shoulder in our restaurants" again, Rosen said on CNBC's "Power Lunch."

"Until that time it would be, in my opinion, wasted money to start spending it.We have to wait until we have a very clear pathway to success," said Rosen, whose grandfather founded Junior's in Brooklyn, New York, in 1950.

The family owned business has grown now to three restaurants in New York City and a location in Connecticut. It also has a bakery outlet in Burlington, New Jersey, and an e-commerce business.

Rosen said he applied for loans separately for its four restaurant locations. The company furloughed 650 employees across its restaurants, which have been closed since March 16.Kevin Stankiewicz

U.S. airlines and the Treasury Department have reached an agreement in principle on billions in government aid aimed at softening the blow from the coronavirus, sources told CNBC.

The agreement comes as the virus and harsh measures to stop it from spreading, such as stay-at-home orders, have driven air travel demand to the lowest in decades. Carriers have raced to cut costs by grounding hundreds of jetliners and asking thousands of employees to take voluntary unpaid leave.

U.S. airlines including American, Delta, United, Southwest and others applied for portions of $25 billion in payroll grants that require airlines not to furlough or cut the pay rates of any employees through Sept. 30. The grants were part of the more than $2 trillion coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month.Leslie Josephs, Lauren Hirsch

California governor Gavin Newsom

Rich Pedroncelli | Pool | AP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday a guide to how California will reopen society and the economy across the state as officials weigh lifting restrictive orders meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Newsom became the first governor to issue a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. He said Tuesday that the order and similar policies have successfully minimized California's Covid-19 outbreak, which has infected more than 22,348 people across the state and killed at least 687 people in California as of Sunday, according to California Health and Human Services.

"While Californians have stepped up in a big way to flatten the curve and buy us time to prepare to fight the virus, at some point in the future we will need to modify our stay-at-home order," Newsom said in a statement. "As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before."Will Feuer

Emergency room and other doctor's visits at hospitals in Seattle, New York and elsewhere across the U.S. have tumbled in recent weeks, reflecting a broader trend across the U.S. as people steer clear of hospitals for sometimes necessary and emergency care, even for mild heart attacks.

At Providence St. Joseph Health in the Seattle-area, the volume of heart attack patients at its 51 hospitals fell by about 50% in March compared with the same month last year, CEO Dr. Rod Hochman said, adding that the notion that people have just stopped having heart attacks is "too good to be true." He and other physicians suspect patients that have mild heart attacks or strokes that would have normally sent them to the emergency room in the past are seeking treatment from family doctors, outpatient clinics or foregoing it altogether as Covid-19 patients inundate hospitals across the country.The consequences could last years, he said.Will Feuer

Kroger, the nation's largest supermarket chain, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, its largest food and retail union, have teamed up to call on elected leaders to designate grocery workers as first responders.

In a joint statement, they said federal and state officials must act quickly, so grocery workers can get priority access to masks and gloves. They said the employees need the gear to stay safe as they continue to go to work and try to reduce risk of getting sick with Covid-19. "Thisurgentcall fortemporaryfirst responder or emergency personnel status is not just about protectinggrocerystore workers; it is also about protecting the customers they serve and our nation's food supply in general," they said in the statement.

The labor union, which represents 1.3 million workers at major grocery chains, meatpacking plants and more, isalso urging customers to change how they shopand to wear a cloth masks or face covering during every trip to the store.Melissa Repko

The nation's 3.3 million home health-care workers are the other front-line heroes in the war against thecoronavirus. While hospitals' physicians and nurses tend to the sickest Covid-19 victims, the in-home workforce is caring for millions of the most vulnerable Americans. Demand for their services is growing as more of the elderly leave nursing facilities for fear of infection and hospitals release noncritical patients for home care.

Yet they lack personal protective equipment, too. According to a March survey of 1,200 in-home workers by the Home Care Association of America, 77% don't have enough masks and 57% don't have enough gloves. Many are underpaid and lack health insurance and paid sick leave. The pandemic is putting additional pressure on a workforce already in crisis suffering from shortages, especially in hard-hit states such as New York, New Jersey, Louisiana and Washington.In response, the largest home health-care union, industry providers and advocacy groups are urging Washington to respond to this crisis.

The risks to in-home caregivers extends beyond the scarcity of PPE to screening for coronavirus, said William Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, a Washington-based industry advocate mostly for nurses, therapists and other medically trained in-home workers. "I can't speak for every location and employer," he said, "but the protocol under way is for screening of every worker before going into the home, so they don't create a risk for their clients, and it's also screening clients to see that there's no risk to the workers."

Even so, according to the HCAOA survey, nearly 90% of respondents reported clients canceling one or more visits, because they fear aides may spread the disease. Despite those worries, however, 80% said that no clients or employees had reported Covid-19 symptoms.Lori Ioannou

Nearly 7.5 million small businesses are at risk of closing their doors permanently over the next several months if the coronavirus pandemic persists, according to a survey.

Around two-thirds of entrepreneurs said they may have to shut forever if business disruption continues at its current rate for up to five months, according to a survey by Main Street America, a network of more than 1,600 commercial districts comprising 300,000 small businesses.

More than 30% are at risk if the status quo persists for two months, according tothe survey, which polled in excess of 5,850 small business owners.

These figures point to 3.5 million small businesses closing permanently in the next two months, and 7.5 million over the next five months, according to Main Street America.Greg Iacurci

Cisco announced a financing program that will let customers defer 95% of their payments for new products until 2021.Ciscois committing $2.5 billion to cover financing for the effort.

The offerings could help customers preserve cash amid reduced economic activity while people stay at home to avoid further spread of the coronavirus. Then, once conditions have improved, they'll be in a better position to pay what they owe.

Cisco customers won't have to pay for software, hardware or services they buy for 90 days, so long as orders are placed between Tuesday and July 25. After the 90-day period, they pay 1% in the total contract value per month until the end of 2020, according to the company's website. They'll have to make monthly payments in line with the terms of their agreements after that. Pre-owned Cisco products are also available for payment deferrals through 2021.Jordan Novet

U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a video teleconference with G7 leaders on Thursday to coordinate national responses to the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said.

Trump, who is head of the G7 this year, had to cancel the group's annual summit, which he had planned to hold at the presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland, in June.

The Group of Seven nations include the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, Japan and Germany, and all seven of them have been hit hard by the virus. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was released from a London hospital this week after treatment for the virus, which left him in the intensive care unit for several days.

"Working together, the G7 is taking a whole-of-society approach to tackle the crisis across multiple areas, including health, finance, humanitarian assistance, and science and technology," said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

The Thursday session is a followup to their March 16 video conference, the first time G7 leaders had met in that format, to go over efforts to defeat the coronavirus. In addition to the meeting this week, another session is expected in May to lay the groundwork for the June video conference.Reuters

California has signed up more than 58,000 people for health coverage on the state's Affordable Care Act exchanges during the first three weeks of the special enrollment period launched in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The enrollment window began on March 20, and the state is allowing previously uninsured residents to sign up for Obamacare plans through June 30.

California, New York, Washington state and the District of Columbia are among nearly a dozen state-run exchanges that have opened up special enrollment periods for the uninsured.

The Trump administration has resisted opening up a special enrollment period on the federally run exchanges and has proposed using money from the $100 billion hospital relief funding to reimburse health systems for treating Covid-19 patients who are uninsured.Bertha Coombs

Jamie Dimonsaid that American companies will start bringing back employees who are working remotely by June at the earliest.

TheJPMorgan ChaseCEO said that the business world's return to normalcy will occur in phases and be determined by the conditions in regions and at specific companies. Many businesses have sent employees home or furloughed them amid shutdowns tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

"A rational plan to get back to work is a good thing to do, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later," Dimon said in a conference call with analysts. "But it won't be May. We're talking about June, July, August, something like that."Hugh Son

The coronavirus has now infected more than 200,000 people across New York state as the Covid-19 outbreak begins to slow and the country continues to ramp up its testing capacity.

New cases across the state rose by 7,177 on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 202,208, according to New York State Department of Health data gathered as of midnight. Some 10,834 people have died so far, including one child under 10 years old and six kids between 10 and 19, according to the data. One of the kids had diabetes, but the rest didn't have any underlying medical conditions, the data shows.Will Feuer

A worker walks through a baggage claim area at a nearly-empty O'Hare International Airport on April 2, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

The Department of Transportation says $10 billion in grants are now available for airports as they struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, which as driven down the number of air travelers in the U.S. to levels not seen in decades after states issued shelter-in-place orders and other restrictions.

Airports can use the funds, outlined in the $2 trillion CARES Act, for capital expenditures, payroll, utilities and other operating costs and debt payments. Airports make money from airline fees, parking, retail and other revenue streams.Leslie Josephs

Here's one reason for self-employed people to start their 2019 tax return: The bank might want it when you apply for the Paycheck Protection Program.

The federal government's $349 billion forgivable loan program opened to independent contractors and self-employed people on April 10, a week after the bumpy April 3 roll out to small businesses.

Just because the loan window is open to entrepreneurs doesn't mean that they can easily tap the funds.

Currently, banks are asking small businesses to submit payroll expense documents, including payroll tax reports, plus health insurance premium and retirement plan funding data.

Lenders have also limited their PPP applicants to entrepreneurs who already have existing business accounts or loans with them.

This doesn't sync with the way independent contractors operate and it's why some accountants are talking about pushing through tax returns for 2019.Darla Mercado

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press conference.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will not engage in a fight with President Donald Trump as tension escalated between the two this week over who has authority to reopen the U.S. economy. Trump said he has "total" authority over the states.

"This is not time for politics and it is no time to fight. I put my hand out in total partnership and cooperation with the president. If he wants a fight he's not going to get it from me. Period," Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany, adding that Trump is "wrong on the law."

On Monday, Cuomo announced a formal working group with several other Northeastern governors to coordinate the region's Covid-19 mitigation efforts as well as any plans to reopen the states for business. Trump, later in the day, told reporters that only he had that power: "When somebody's the president of the United States, the authority is total, and that's the way it's got to be," which prompted a sharp rebuke from Cuomo.Noah Higgins-Dunn

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, saidthe U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation's economy, adding a dose of caution to increasingly optimistic projections from the White House.

"We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we're not there yet," Fauci said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Fauci's comments come as President Donald Trump and others in the administration weigh how quickly businesses can reopen and Americans can get back to work weeks after thefast-spreading coronavirusessentially halted the U.S. economy.Trump has floated the possibilityof reopening some areas by May 1 and said he could announce recommendations as soon as this week.

Fauci said a May 1 target is "a bit overly optimistic" for many areas of the country. Any easing off the strict social-distancing rules in place in much of the country would have to occur on a "rolling" basis, not all at once, he said, reflecting the ways Covid-19 struck different parts of the country at different times.Associated Press

There's a reason you can't get a refund from Ticketmaster for a postponed concert the online ticket seller doesn't have your money. The venue does.

"I think there's a lot of misperception about Ticketmaster," Joe Berchtold, the president of Live Nation, the company that owns Ticketmaster, said on CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "Ticketmaster doesn't sell these tickets and sit on a mountain of cash. Ticketmaster sells tickets and gives the cash over to the venues where the events are held."

Over the last week, Ticketmaster has faced backlash from consumers seeking refunds for postponed live events.

Berchtold explained that in order for Ticketmaster to issue refunds it needs to work with the event venues, but those venues are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.Sarah Whitten

Unilever, the London-based consumer products giant, is not benefiting overall from the coronavirus crisis even though many of its soap and hand-washing brands are seeing increased demand, CEO Alan Jope told CNBC.

"Coronavirus is not good news for Unilever. We're seeing shift in demand for sure," he said in a "Squawk on the Street" interview. "We're seeing a big reduction in out-of-home food consumption of ice cream and restaurant products."

Unilever makes Breyers and Ben and Jerry's ice cream as well as Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton and Pure Leaf teas. The conglomerate also makes consumer staples such as Dove and Lifebuoy antibacterial soaps.

"Yes, we're seeing increases in demand in some of the hygiene products," Jope said. However, the net effect of the outbreak for the company at large is "certainly not good news for us on a commercial basis," he added.

Jope said panic buying and hoarding of supplies is largely an American phenomenon. "Only in the U.S. are we seeing this kind of dramatic pantry loading. I think the U.S. consumer has typically a bigger house and more appetite for credit card debt than elsewhere in the world."Matthew J. Belvedere

As the impact of the coronavirus pandemic hits businesses and their ad spend, advertising holding companies are preparing for a drop in demand, and some are telling their employees to expect staff cuts and furloughs.

The advertising industry is bracing for a wider impact of any economic fallout on client spending, since marketing is often one of the first items that businesses cut during a financial downturn.Some brand advertisers have said they've alreadydramatically reduced spending.

In an internal weekly email to employees that was viewed by CNBC, Omnicom Group CEO John Wren wrote that the pandemic has had an impact on the economy, clients' businesses, "and in turn, on ours." He wrote that the company has solidified internal measures to meet the changing needs of its clients. The holding company operates agencies across the advertising world, including BBDO, DDB and TBWA.

"Regrettably, this will include furloughs and staff reductions across many of our agencies," Wren wrote. "We are doing everything we can to limit staff reductions, and to take care of those who are affected."Meg Graham

Apple shipped roughly 2.5 million iPhones in China in March, a slight rebound after one of its worst months in the country ever, according to government data published on Friday.

Smartphone companies are hoping for a strong recovery in demand in China, where the deadly coronavirus is subsiding, just as it spreads overseas and looks set to trigger a global recession.

Mobile phone shipments in China in March totaled 21 million units, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a government think tank.

That was a more than three-fold increase from February, yet still down roughly 20% compared with March 2019.Reuters

A French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) researcher holds a test tube rack containing cells to be infected with Covid-19 during coronavirus vaccine research work inside the Pasteur Institute laboratories in Lille, France, March 9, 2020.

Adrienne Surprenant | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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California governor outlines guide to reopening state, US airports see $10 billion in aid - CNBC

While the world continues to cope with COVID-19, it is clear that the decisions our public officials make today will have far-reaching consequences on peoples lives. It is for that reason that we need to make absolutely sure that our decisions are supported by robust science.

Scientists around the world have been working long hours identifying potential new treatments and diagnostic tools to handle the threat that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) poses. Many of these new treatments, such as the 70 vaccines currently in development, provide hope that we will soon be able to stop this pandemic in its tracks.

However, there have also been a number of exaggerated claims about early scientific data found in pre-prints a kind of initial posting of results prior to evaluation by scientific experts and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Some of these claims, such as the lauding of hydroxychloroquine as a miracle-cure for COVID-19, have led people to self-medicate with fatal consequences. To be clear, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 is very much still under investigation.

This is why it is so alarming to hear public officials in Canada, namely Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, openly talking about moving ahead of Health Canada approval for similar treatments.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, even in times of desperate measures and rapid response, science still requires time to make rigorous and robust conclusions. There are real consequences to rushing ahead of rigorous scientific data.

A potent example of this is the use of thalidomide in Canada to treat nausea associated with pregnancy. Thalidomide was available in Canada in the early 1960s. This drug was approved in other jurisdictions, including West Germany and the United Kingdom. It was subsequently pulled from markets in both countries in 1961 and in Canada shortly after, when it became abundantly clear that the drug caused fetal malformations.

Notably, a Canadian-born American physician by the name of Dr. Frances Kelsey saw the scientific data on the use of thalidomide and was deeply concerned about the lack of scientifically reliable evidence of its safety. As such, in her role as an advisor to the Food and Drug Administration, she blocked its approval for use in the United States. Her actions prevented the damaging and sometimes fatal consequences seen elsewhere.

Dr. Kelsey took a slow science approach. Instead of pushing ahead with a drug that had been approved in other countries, she actively sought out evidence of its safety, and evaluated it for herself. This extra step, the extra interpretation of the data in her hands, helped to identify that the drug might not be safe and should not be approved without more evidence.

Read more: How 'slow science' can improve the way we do and interpret research

This highlights why having robust scientific data about a drug treatment is so vital. Health Canadas approval of medications and diagnostics is one part in a slow science framework, which protects Canadians and their health from the use of diagnostic tests and treatments that are not validated to be safe and effective.

Treatments and diagnostics for COVID-19 must follow this framework. Treatments that dont work (or worse, are harmful) or diagnostic tests that provide many false positives (or worse, false negatives) will only serve to hasten the spread and impact of COVID-19 on Canadians.

Read more: The US is fast-tracking a coronavirus vaccine, but bypassing safety standards may not be worth the cost

Slow science will necessarily take more time than we might be immediately comfortable with. However, it is important that public officials, scientists and the public understand that treatments and diagnostics that work will require science that is rigorous, accurate and peer-reviewed. This requires time. Slow science will provide fewer opportunities for mistakes and more time for science to get it right.

Continued here:

Rushing coronavirus vaccines and treatments could do more harm than good - The Conversation CA

We are both biotechnology researchers and are currently seeking to repurpose an existing medical manufacturing platform to quickly develop a vaccine candidate for COVID-19.

This process is used for the treatment of blood products such as plasma, platelets and whole blood to prevent disease transmission when people receive transfused blood. It utilizes a common food ingredient, vitamin B2, or riboflavin, which is a light-sensitive chemical. When used in combination with ultraviolet light of specific wavelengths, B2 can alter genetic material, whether RNA or DNA, of infectious pathogens in the blood, making them unable to transmit disease.

Those genetic changes prevent pathogens, such as viral, bacterial and parasitic contaminants, in blood from replicating. By stopping the replication process, the method protects people from disease they could acquire through a blood transfusion.

Heres how we believe this technology can be applied to COVID-19 virus: When creating a vaccine candidate, the goal is to destroy the replication potential of the virus while preserving its proteins and antigens, the substances in the virus that prompt the body to produce antibodies. The presence of those proteins and antigens allows the body to recognize the virus as foreign and mount an immune response against it.

When this method is applied to a pure virus grown in cell culture, the B2 damages the viruss genetic material and thus blocks it from replicating. But the B2 treatment leaves the rest of the virus notably the viral proteins undamaged. That is important because the vaccine needs to contain proteins that appear on an infecting virus in order for a person to produce effective antibodies and protect against the disease.

Why it matters

Vaccines require an inactive form of a virus that cannot cause disease to stimulate the immune system. In 2009, during the H1N1 influenza outbreak, the U.S. experienced shortages in the manufacturing of needed vaccines, as the need to grow the virus was in high demand and the manufacturing plants that required the use of eggs to grow the virus were insufficient.

This resulted in the expansion of new ways to manufacture vaccines, some of which are now in use. Yet, there is still a lag time in the production of needed vaccines for the current coronavirus outbreak.

Most methods that are used today to prepare inactivated viruses employ chemicals that are both toxic and in some cases even pose explosion risk, meaning that facilities have to be constructed and operated in ways that protect workers and the public from their use and exposure.

Riboflavin is a compound that is generally recognized as safe because of its low toxicity in humans and animals and its presence in common products people routinely ingest. Using this approach can make this step in virus production much easier and applicable for use in appropriate biological containment facilities.

What other research is being done

Over the last decade, there have been advances in manufacturing and in strategies to rapidly produce a vaccine.

Our work has been made possible by the investments made in the U.S. research infrastructure through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in order to expand research and manufacturing capacity and to address concerns over the potential threat of bioterrorism. It led to the construction of a manufacturing plant and research labs which are currently used by industry, government and academic partners pursuing manufacturing and process development for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic reagents.

Although the threat from bioterrorism never materialized to the extent that was initially envisioned, there is a need for rapid vaccine development to address emerging pathogens that threaten human health on a global basis, such as Zika.

Whats next

Our vaccine construct, which we call SolaVAX, is undergoing animal testing and further laboratory characterization, such as studying the nature of the damage to the viral RNA that this process induces and its immunological effect when given to animals. We began our initial vaccine challenge studies earlier this month. These tests will determine if we can protect animals that are vaccinated with SolaVAX from developing the disease when they are later exposed to the live virus. This work is a first step on the path to human clinical evaluation. We also possess the nonprofit BioMARC manufacturing operation at Colorado State University, where testing and development of this inactivation method for vaccine production can be piloted.

If initial results in animal testing and pilot production of the vaccine are positive, the next steps into human clinical testing and evaluation and ultimate regulatory approvals represent the next major hurdle.

Alan Rudolph is affiliated with the Colorado Biosciences Industry Association, Colorado Federal Laboratory Consortia, Founder of Cellphire Inc. and Board Member of PhotonPharma.

Raymond P. Goodrich consults for Terumo BCT, Inc. This organization is the owner of the Mirasol PRT technology which is utilized in the production of the SolaVAX vaccine. He is an inventor of that technology and holds patents on the use of the technology for the treatment of blood products and use in preparing vaccines. These patents are assigned to Colorado State University. He is also a founder of PhotonPharma, Inc. He serves as a member of the American Association of Blood Banks committee on Public Policy and Strategy.

This article by Alan Rudolph and Raymond P. Goodrich first appeared in The Conversation on April 4, 2020.

Image: Reuters.

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We Might Have a Way To Build a Rapid Coronavirus Vaccine - The National Interest Online

At least 70 potential coronavirus vaccines are currently in development, with 3 already in clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

WHO published an updated list of vaccine efforts on April 11, showing a vast array of companies pursuing shots that could halt the coronavirus. Bloomberg News reported on the document earlier.

As the virus continues to spread, infecting more than 1.9 million people and killing more than 110,000 worldwide, researchers have been racing to develop vaccines. Those research efforts involve a range of organizations, from pharmaceutical giants and tiny biotech companies to academic centers and nonprofit groups.

Read more: Here are the top vaccine efforts to watch, including 8 set to be tested in people this year.

Developing a new vaccine is typically an expensive, complicated and lengthy process, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars and years of testing to determine whether a vaccine is safe and effective. While this current pandemic is the third coronavirus outbreak of the 21st century the first two being SARS and MERS there still aren't any approved vaccines for coronaviruses.

Drugmakers and health officials have been hoping to significantly cut down those timelines in response to the severity of the current situation. Chinese biotech company CanSino is already working on phase two of human trials for its experimental vaccine, while US-based biotech startups Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Moderna have both begun human testing. Large corporations like Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are also sprinting to develop vaccines.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the US is still at least 12 to 18 months away from seeing a coronavirus vaccine, and some experts have warned that even trying to hit that deadline is a risky plan that could backfire.

"When Dr. Fauci said 12 to 18 months, I thought that was ridiculously optimistic," Paul Offit, the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine in the late 1990s,told CNN. "And I'm sure he did, too."

New vaccines are generally required to be tested first in a lab, then in animals, and then among a small group of people for safety before they're finally tested in larger groups to see if they can prevent a disease. But experts are concerned that bypassing any of those steps in order to get a vaccine approved risks leading to "immune enhancement," where a vaccine actually weakens a person's response to the virus.

Never miss out on healthcare news.Subscribe to Dispensed, Business Insider's weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.

"The way you reduce that risk is first you show it does not occur in laboratory animals," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine,told Reuters. But in the rush to find a vaccine for the coronavirus, some drugmakers are skipping animal trials,Stat News reported.

"I understand the importance of accelerating timelines for vaccines in general, but from everything I know, this is not the vaccine to be doing it with," Hotez said.

Andrew Dunn and Bill Bostock contributed reporting to this story.

Read the original here:

WHO: 70 coronavirus vaccines in development, 3 in human trials - Business Insider - Business Insider

Hello!

It's been a dark few weeks, but there's been some light in the past few days, as the number of patients in New York ICUs dropped for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, and there was some promising data on a potential treatment.

As Andrew Dunn reports, more than two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients improved in condition after receiving remdesivir, an experimental antiviral treatment from Gilead Sciences. More tests are needed, as the study had no control group, but the lead author called the observations "hopeful." You can read Andrew's story on remdesivir and 14 other leading treatments that are now being tested against COVID-19 here.

The pandemic is upending medical research across the board, as big pharma mobilizes to find a treatment. GSK for example is betting $250 million on buzzy biotech Vir as the two team up to hunt for coronavirus treatments and vaccines. In related news, Blake Dodge reported this week that Alphabet's life-sciences firm Verily may use its giant patient registry to help sign people up to test coronavirus treatments.

And Blake separately reported that tests that can tell if you're immune to the coronavirus are on the way. She breaks down the companies racing to bring them to the US healthcare system here.

The flip side here, as Andrew and Blake report, is that dozens of biotechs are putting clinical trials on hold as the search for a coronavirus vaccine makes it harder to find cures for cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders.

(For more on how Andrew is covering the high-stakes race for a coronavirus vaccine, he talked to deputy executive editor Olivia Oran about his reporting.)

Meanwhile, Apple and Google on Friday announced they are building a system to track COVID-19 cases. But as Rob Price reported, the plan islet down by America's testing failures.

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

From Melia Russell and Paayal Zaveri:

The coronavirus outbreak has changed not only where people work from, but how they work and what tools they use.

Already, apps likeZoomandSlackhave seen huge increases in usage in the past few weeks, as users grab onto ways to stay connected in their work and personal lives while social distancing.

The urgent need for better work tools could catapult some enterprise startups into the pantheon of unicorn startups, as their users multiply and venture capital investors jump to fund them.

They asked VCs to tell them about one startup in their portfolio, and one where they have no financial interest, and came up with a list of 30 startups to watch. You can read more here.

Elsewhere in startup news:

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

The week started with the news that WeWork board members are suing SoftBank for backing out of its plan to buy $3 billion of shares. Meghan Morris reported that former CEO Adam Neumann is still weighing legal options.

Meghan and Dan Geiger then revealed that WeWork rival Knotel is scrambling to pay millions in bills that started stacking up before the coronavirus hit, and hasn't paid April rent at some locations. They also got leaked Knotel financials, which show it struggled to hit sales targets.

Elsewhere:

Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Stay safe, everyone.

-- Matt

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The race to find a coronavirus vaccine, startups to watch, and a real estate meltdown - Business Insider - Business Insider

Microsoft (MSFT) founder and billionaire Bill Gates wants life to get back like it was before the global coronavirus outbreak.

The only way to truly do that is with a vaccine and that will take time.

"People like myself and [Dr. Anthony] Fauci are saying eighteen months, Gates told BBC Breakfast. If everything went perfectly, we could do slightly better than that. But there will be a trade-off: Well have less safety testing than we typically would have... we just don't have the time to do what we normally do.

The urgency to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is necessary, Gates stressed.

If you want to wait and see if a side effect shows up two years later, that takes two years, he said. So when youre acting quickly... this is a public good, so those trade-offs will be necessary.

Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation speaks onstage at 2019 New York Times Dealbook on November 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo: Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times)

The Gates Foundation, through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) a global public-privatepartnershiplaunched in 2017 that the Gates Foundation funds has thus farmade investmentsin eight vaccine programs.

We're doing everything we can, Gates said. We'll write checks for those factories faster than governments can and they'll come along. It definitely shouldn't be money limited. It should should be all the best constructs, full-speed ahead, science limited.

The prominent philanthropist has advocated for widespread testing and previously a nation-wide shutdown to slow the spread of coronavirus in the short term.

Confirmed coronavirus cases are still on the rise.(David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

The ultimate solution, the only thing that really lets us go back completely to normal and feel good about sitting in a stadium with lots of other people, is to create a vaccine, Gates said last week.And not just take care of country, but take that vaccine out to the global population so that we have vast immunity and this thing, no matter what, isnt going to spread in large numbers.

The timing and eventual emergence of a coronavirus vaccine is being closely watched and considered as an early indicator of the end of the outbreak.

Were looking around the world. As they relax the economic controls, the virus flares back up again, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said on CBSs Face the Nation. We could have these waves of flareups, controls, flareups and controls until we actually get a therapy or a vaccine. I think we should all be focusing on an 18-month strategy for our health care system and our economy.

Confirmed coronavirus cases are still on the rise.(David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

Story continues

Melinda Gates shed some light on the processes involved in that 18-month vaccine timeline.

From everything we know from working with our partners for many, many years on vaccines, you have to test the compounds ... go into preclinical trials, then full-scale trials, Melinda Gates explained in a separate interview with Business Insider. And even though I'm sure the FDA will fast-track some of these vaccine trials like they did with Ebola, still by the time you get it through the trials safety- and efficacy-wise, then you have to manufacture the vaccine and manufacture at scale.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called the coronavirus a horrible, invisible enemy and declared that the country is at war and were fighting an invisible enemy.

But Gates noted that the severe lack of preparation for such a war despite the vast implications was a serious mistake by governments around the world.

Unlike the defense budget that prepares us for wars where we simulate the problem when we make sure we're good at it, this risk which I viewed as even greater than the risk of war there was very, very little preparation, very few of these germ games, said Gates, who famously warned about a pandemic in 2015.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens as U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

In a germ game, researchers would say: Okay how do you build up the ICU capacity? Can you make ventilators? How do you prioritize the diagnostics? Gates explained. That we're just figuring out.

In any case, once a vaccine becomes available and various public health responses are carried out, the world will better prepare for the next pandemic.

People just didnt organize their governments to have that function, Gates said. I do think now, because this has been so dramatic, ... we will be ready for the next pandemic. And using the new tools of science, that's very, very doable.

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Bill Gates on a coronavirus vaccine: The major issue is time - Yahoo Finance

(Reuters) - With much of the world living in lockdown, the spread of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that was first detected in China late last year is beginning to slow in some places. As of April 12, 1.8 million had been infected and 115,000 killed by COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

FILE PHOTO: Scientist Linqi Zhang shows a tube with a solution containing COVID-19 antibodies in his lab where he works on research into novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) antibodies for possible use in a drug at Tsinghua University's Research Center for Public Health in Beijing, China, March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

While a safe, effective vaccine is still more than a year away, researchers are rushing to repurpose existing drugs and non-drug therapies as well as testing promising experimental drugs that were already in clinical trials.

Even moderately effective therapies or combinations could dramatically reduce the crushing demand on hospitals and intensive care units, changing the nature of the risk the new pathogen represents to populations and healthcare systems. New drugs, together with new diagnostics, antibody tests, patient- and contact-tracing technologies, disease surveillance and other early-warning tools, mean the anticipated next wave of the global pandemic does not have to be nearly as bad the first.

More than 70 vaccine candidates are also in development around the world, with at least five in preliminary testing in people. Here are some of the drugs, vaccines and other therapies in development:

REMDESIVIR - GILEAD SCIENCES

Antiviral drug, originally developed to combat RNA viruses including respiratory syncytial virus. At least 13 trials underway in China, Europe and the U.S. with preliminary results from two Chinese trials expected as soon as April 2020. A February assessment by the WHO flagged this candidate as the most promising for battling COVID-19.

CAVEATS: Initial data are expected to come from studies of patients with relatively severe COVID-19. Because antivirals work best when patients are healthier, those results may show limited effectiveness.

STATUS: Repurposed Experimental

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Gilead starts two late-stage studies to test drug for coronavirus

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Clinical Trials

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New England Journal of Medicine, April 2020

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Malaria drug also believed to have antiviral activity. Blocked SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells in an in-vitro experiment. In one small French study, some COVID-19 patients showed improvements but there was no way to know if the drug was the reason. Results published in April from another study in France and one in China found no benefit in patients treated with the drug. Dozens more clinical studies are underway around the world.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Special Report: Doctors embrace drug touted by Trump for COVID-19, without hard evidence it works

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Coronavirus drug hopefuls are cheap to make but may be in short supply

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Clinical Trials

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Journal of Zhejiang Univ (Med Sci), March 2020

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Mdecine et Maladies Infectieuses, March 2020

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Nature, February 2020

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ACTEMRA (TOCILIZUMAB) - ROCHE

Monoclonal antibody approved for rheumatoid arthritis and also for treating the cytokine storm immune overresponse in cancer patients. Fifteen registered trials in China, Europe and the U.S. are testing it on COVID-19 patients, alone or in comparison to other therapies. One French trial is looking at 28-day effects on COVID-19 in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Coronavirus drug hopefuls are cheap to make but may be in short supply

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Clinical Trials

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KEVZARA (SARILUMAB) - SANOFI, REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS

Monoclonal antibody approved for inflammatory arthritis, and in trials targeting the cytokine storm immune response in severely ill COVID-19 patients. Regenerons chief scientific officer has said initial data on effectiveness could come by late April.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Data on arthritis drug to treat coronavirus could come within weeks, according to Regeneron executive

Link: here

Exclusive: Sanofi can produce millions of doses of potential coronavirus drug - CEO

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Sanofi, Regeneron expand testing of potential coronavirus treatment

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Clinical Trials

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JAKAVI (RUXOLITINIB) - NOVARTIS, INCYTE

Developed to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and in late-stage development as a cream for atopic dermatitis. One trial each in Canada and Mexico will test the drug in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory symptoms associated with the cytokine storm immune response, with preliminary results expected by June 2020. In the United States, Novartis established a managed access program for use in severe/very severe COVID-19 illness on April 7.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Novartis, Incyte join repurposing wave to give Jakavi a trial run in COVID-19

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Clinical Trials

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KALETRA (LOPINAVIR/RITONAVIR) - ABBVIE

Antiviral combination used to treat and prevent HIV infections. More than twenty trials around the world are testing the drug as a COVID-19 treatment or post-exposure prophylaxis for people with high-risk close contact with a confirmed case. Initial results expected as soon as May 2020.

CAVEATS: One randomized controlled trial in China published results in March showing no differences in viral load or 28-day mortality among 199 patients. Median time to clinical improvement was one day shorter in patients taking the drug. However the same investigators, doctors at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, said in April that they believe Kaletra, as well as a second drug, bismuth potassium citrate, helped some of the COVID-19 patients they treated.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

Key China coronavirus hospital says HIV drug beneficial to patients

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Mylan waives exclusive U.S. distribution rights for potential COVID-19 therapy

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Clinical Trials

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New England Journal of Medicine, March 2020

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RHACE2 APN01 - APEIRON BIOLOGICS

A recombinant human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (rhACE2) under Phase-2 clinical development in ALI (Acute Lung Injury) and PAH (Pulmonal arterial hypertension). This synthetic version of the human protein that the novel coronavirus uses to enter cells is being tested in Austria to see if it can block viral entry and decrease viral replication in COVID-19 patients, reducing deaths or need for mechanical ventilation. Preliminary results from the trial that was announced on April 2 are expected in September 2020.

STATUS: Experimental

EARLY RESULTS: 3-6 months

Clinical Trial

Link: here

CAMOSTAT MESYLATE - UNIVERSITY OF AARHUS, DENMARK

Protease inhibitor licensed in Japan and South Korea to treat chronic pancreatitis. In vitro experiments found it blocks a mechanism SARS-Cov-2 uses to enter human cells. As of early April, an estimated 180 COVID-19 patients aged 18-110 were being recruited at nine locations in Denmark for a phase 2a trial that will examine 30-day changes in disease severity and mortality, with results expected by December 2020. The University of Tokyo also announced plans for a trial of camostat mesylate and a related drug, nafamostat mesylate, starting as early as April 2020.

STATUS: Repurposed

EARLY RESULTS: 6-12 months

IFX-1 - INFLARX

Monoclonal antibody targeting complement activation product C5a. Designed to block a mechanism of inflammation, the drug is also in clinical trials for Hidradenitis Suppurativa, ANCA-associated vasculitis and Pyoderma Gangraenosum. In early April, a trial in the Netherlands launched to test IFX-1 in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, with preliminary results expected in late October 2020.

STATUS: Experimental

EARLY RESULTS: 6-12 months

ASPIRIN, CLOPIDOGREL, RIVAROXABAN, ATORVASTATIN, OMEPRAZOLE - IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Trial of cardioprotective drugs to prevent direct damage to the heart muscle that appears to drive the severity of COVID-19 in certain patients as well as their likelihood of needing invasive critical care. The trial will include more than 3,000 patients in the UK, with a completion date of March 30, 2021.

EARLY RESULTS: 9-12 months

MRNA 1273 - MODERNA/NIAID

RNA vaccine made with messenger-RNA (mRNA) encoding the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle. The phase 1 trial with 45 subjects aged 18-55 at three locations in the U.S. will evaluate the vaccines safety and provide early data on the immune response it induces. Trial completion is anticipated to be June 1, 2020.

STATUS: Experimental

EARLY RESULTS: 0-3 months

J&J, Moderna sign deals with U.S. to produce huge quantity of possible coronavirus vaccines

Link: here

Clinical Trial

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Reasons for hope: the drugs, tests and tactics that may conquer coronavirus - Reuters

The coronavirus mutation that threatens the race to develop vaccine  South China Morning Post

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The coronavirus mutation that threatens the race to develop vaccine - South China Morning Post

Coronaviruses have been causing problems for humanity for a long time. Several versions are known to trigger common colds and more recently two types have set off outbreaks of deadly illnesses: severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers).

But their impact has been mild compared with the global havoc unleashed by the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic. In only a few months it has triggered lockdowns in dozens of nations and claimed more than 100,000 lives. And the disease continues to spread.

That is an extraordinary achievement for a spiky ball of genetic material coated in fatty chemicals called lipids, and which measures 80 billionths of a metre in diameter. Humanity has been brought low by a very humble assailant.

On the other hand, our knowledge about the Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is also remarkable. This was an organism unknown to science five months ago. Today it is the subject of study on an unprecedented scale. Vaccines projects proliferate, antiviral drug trials have been launched and new diagnostic tests are appearing.

The questions are therefore straightforward: what have we learned over the past five months and how might that knowledge put an end to this pandemic?

The Sars-CoV-2 virus almost certainly originated in bats, which have evolved fierce immune responses to viruses, researchers have discovered. These defences drive viruses to replicate faster so that they can get past bats immune defences. In turn, that transforms the bat into a reservoir of rapidly reproducing and highly transmissible viruses. Then when these bat viruses move into other mammals, creatures that lack a fast-response immune system, the viruses quickly spread into their new hosts. Most evidence suggests that Sars-CoV-2 started infecting humans via an intermediary species, such as pangolins.

This virus probably jumped from a bat into another animal, and that other animal was probably near a human, maybe in a market, says virologist Professor Edward Holmes of Sydney University. And so if that wildlife animal has a virus its picked up from a bat and were interacting with it, theres a good chance that the virus will then spread to the person handling the animal. Then that person will go home and spread it to someone else and we have an outbreak.

As to the transmission of Sars-CoV-2, that occurs when droplets of water containing the virus are expelled by an infected person in a cough or sneeze.

Virus-ridden particles are inhaled by others and come into contact with cells lining the throat and larynx. These cells have large numbers of receptors known as Ace-2 receptors on their surfaces. (Cell receptors play a key role in passing chemicals into cells and in triggering signals between cells.) This virus has a surface protein that is primed to lock on that receptor and slip its RNA into the cell, says virologist Professor Jonathan Ball of Nottingham University.

Once inside, that RNA inserts itself into the cells own replication machinery and makes multiple copies of the virus. These burst out of the cell, and the infection spreads. Antibodies generated by the bodys immune system eventually target the virus and in most cases halt its progress.

A Covid-19 infection is generally mild, and that really is the secret of the viruss success, adds Ball. Many people dont even notice they have got an infection and so go around their work, homes and supermarkets infecting others.

By contrast, Sars which is also caused by a coronavirus makes patients much sicker and kills about one in 10 of those infected. In most cases, these patients are hospitalised and that stops them infecting others by cutting the transmission chain. Milder Covid-19 avoids that issue.

Occasionally, however, the virus can cause severe problems. This happens when it moves down the respiratory tract and infects the lungs, which are even richer in cells with Ace-2 receptors. Many of these cells are destroyed, and lungs become congested with bits of broken cell. In these cases, patients will require treatment in intensive care.

Even worse, in some cases, a persons immune system goes into overdrive, attracting cells to the lungs in order to attack the virus, resulting in inflammation. This process can run out of control, more immune cells pour in, and the inflammation gets worse. This is known as a cytokine storm. (In Greek, cyto means cell and kino means movement.) In some cases, this can kill the patient.

Just why cytokine storms occur in some patients but not in the vast majority is unclear. One possibility is that some people have versions of Ace-2 receptors that are slightly more vulnerable to attacks from the coronavirus than are those of most people.

Doctors examining patients recovering from a Covid-19 infection are finding fairly high levels of neutralising antibodies in their blood. These antibodies are made by the immune system, and they coat an invading virus at specific points, blocking its ability to break into cells.

It is clear that immune responses are being mounted against Covid-19 in infected people, says virologist Mike Skinner of Imperial College London. And the antibodies created by that response will provide protection against future infections but we should note that it is unlikely this protection will be for life.

Instead, most virologists believe that immunity against Covid-19 will last only a year or two. That is in line with other coronaviruses that infect humans, says Skinner. That means that even if most people do eventually become exposed to the virus, it is still likely to become endemic which means we would see seasonal peaks of infection of this disease. We will have reached a steady state with regard to Covid-19.

The virus will be with us for some time, in short. But could it change its virulence? Some researchers have suggested that it could become less deadly. Others have argued that it could mutate to become more lethal. Skinner is doubtful. We have got to consider this pandemic from the viruss position, he says. It is spreading round the world very nicely. It is doing OK. Change brings it no benefit.

In the end, it will be the development and roll-out of an effective vaccine that will free us from the threat of Covid-19, Skinner says.

On Friday, the journal Nature reported that 78 vaccine projects had been launched round the globe with a further 37 in development. Among the projects that are under way is a vaccine programme that is now in phase-one trials at Oxford University, two others at US biotechnology corporations and three more at Chinese scientific groups. Many other vaccine developers say they plan to start human testing this year.

This remarkable response raises hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine could be developed in a fairly short time. However, vaccines require large-scale safety and efficacy studies. Thousands of people would receive either the vaccine itself or a placebo to determine if the former were effective at preventing infection from the virus which they would have encountered naturally. That, inevitably, is a lengthy process.

As a result, some scientists have proposed a way to speed up the process by deliberately exposing volunteers to the virus to determine a vaccines efficacy. This approach is not without risks but has the potential to expedite candidate vaccine testing by many months, says Nir Eyal, a professor of bioethics at Rutgers University.

Volunteers would have to be young and healthy, he stresses: Their health would also be closely monitored, and they would have access to intensive care and any available medicines. The result could be a vaccine that would save millions of lives by being ready for use in a much shorter time than one that went through standard phase three trials.

But deliberately infecting people in particular volunteers who would be given a placebo vaccine as part of the trial is controversial. This will have to be thought through very carefully, says Professor Adam Finn of Bristol University. Young people might jump at the opportunity to join such a trial but this is a virus that does kill the odd young person. We dont know why yet. However, phase-three trials are still some way off, so we have time to consider the idea carefully.

This article was amended on 12 April 2020. The original version incorrectly described the Covid-19 virus as measuring an 80-billionth of a metre, when it should have said 80 billionths of a metre. A quote from Mike Skinner, responding to whether Covid-19s virulence could change, was also corrected.

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Five months on, what scientists now know about the coronavirus - The Guardian

A pharmacist gives Jennifer Haller, left, the first shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Monday, March 16, 2020, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, numerous drugs are being explored and a vaccine is still ages away. Prominent among the drugs being explored is hydroxychloroquine. Whats the status of the research for its use in treating this virus?

Hydroxychloroquine was invented for the treatment of malaria, and malaria is a parasite. So in order to treat parasites, you need an antiparasitic drug, which is what hydroxychloroquine has. If you want to treat a bacterial infection, you use an antibiotic and the other drug in this COVID cocktail is azithromycin, which is a common antibiotic, said local MD Dr. Gordon Cohen.

But COVID-19 is a virus, and when we want to treat viral infections, we need antivirals. There have been some antiviral drugs that have been tried the first two drugs that were tried were drugs that were used for the treatment of HIV and the results were poor.

Overlake doctor: Do not delay medical care for fear of COVID-19

But Cohen points to Favipiravir, a drug being tested by the Fuji Film corporation in Japan and in the U.S. that looks promising.

This drug has the correct mechanism of action. When you look at how it works at fighting viruses, its actually designed to treat viruses like COVID-19, so it looks very promising, he said.

Is there any chance of getting a vaccine before the 18 months that were told its going to take?

The first human trial for a vaccine was announced just last month by scientists here in Seattle, and theyre actually taking sort of the unusual step of skipping any animal research to test the vaccine for its safety or effectiveness, he said. Theres also some Australian scientists who have been injecting ferrets with two potential vaccines, and its really the first comprehensive pre-clinical trial to move to the animal testing stage. So thats sort of where were at with the vaccine landscape.

Parenting and working from home during coronavirus

We need to keep in mind vaccines may seem like theyre the answer, but are they really the answer? So, first of all, we havent been that effective at developing vaccines against coronaviruses. Coronaviruses are responsible for the common cold. Well, how often do you see people getting a vaccine for the common cold? We dont see that.

Dr. Cohen believes were more likely to find a drug treatment than a vaccine in the near future.

If I had to bet, I think were more likely to get to a drug as a treatment solution earlier than we do as a vaccine. And the benefit to that is we can get a drug to everybody. If you get sick, you get the treatment. Whereas with the vaccine, its going to be hard to suddenly inoculate 350 million Americans overnight and inoculate the rest of the world.

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Vaccines versus drug treatments in the fight against coronavirus - MyNorthwest.com