4 of the Most Promising COVID-19 Vaccines In Development

The US currently has the most coronavirus cases of any country, with more than 330,000 individuals diagnosed with the virus, according to the CDC . Those are just the known cases, but experts believe the number is much higher.

Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, recently stated that finding a vaccine is an “urgent public health priority.” 

Vaccines are extremely important, especially during a pandemic. They protect the vaccinated individual against the infection, and they reduce transmission, protecting those not vaccinated by reducing the number of people who can transmit disease

The pharmaceutical industry, in collaboration with the government and other entities, have fast tracked the development of a COVID-19 vaccines. In the following article, PharmaNewsIntelligence explores the industry’s latest and most significant efforts to find a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Providence Cancer Institute Redirects Cancer Vaccine as Potential COVID-19 Vaccine 

Researchers at the Providence Cancer Institute have joined the effort to find a COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to redirect a technique used for battling cancer, according to a recent press release.

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Nearly two weeks after conversing with a biotechnology company, Bernard Fox, MD, and his colleague, Rom Lediner, MD, from the Providence Cancer Institute, asked the FDA to approve their proposal for a vaccine, which combines a protein and a standard type of virus vaccine. The pair say this will push the body to neutralize COVID-19 before it makes an individual sick. 

Fox and Lediner believe that exposing the body to both parts of the vaccine templates – the virus as well as the protein – will result in a strong immune system response if an individual is exposed to COVID-19. 

This type of combination has been tried twice before with HIV and Ebola, Fox said. Both Leidner and Fox have already seen the protein shrink the size of tumors in cancer patients, and they believe it has the potential to be effective against the novel coronavirus. 

While waiting for FDA approval, the Institute decided to move forward with manufacturing the vaccine so it can be ready for clinical tests once approved. The Harder Family Chair in Cancer Research endowment and other philanthropic organizations funded the vaccine manufacturing. 

“Because of the extraordinary circumstances, we need to move in parallel and accept a greater degree of risk for the sake of being able to test this in people as quickly as possible,” Bryan Bell, MD, DDS, Leidner, co-medical director of the Providence Head and Neck Cancer Program in Portland, said in an announcement.

Typically, a vaccine takes 18 months to get approved and put to use. If the federal government accelerates the research due to the COVID-19 emergency, the vaccine could be ready to tackle the virus in a year, Fox reported. 

Johnson & Johnson Announces a Lead COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Most recently, Johnson & Johnson identified a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate and expects to initiate a Phase I human clinical trial by September 2020 at the latest.

The potential vaccine was discovered through the expansion of its existing partnership between its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of HHS. 

Janssen scaled the company’s manufacturing capacity to provide a global supply of more than one billion doses of the potential COVID-19 vaccine. The first batch may be available for emergency situations in early 2021.

The company first began efforts to research potential vaccine candidates in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, part of Harvard Medical School, when the COVID-19 sequence became available. 

Johnson & Johnson highlighted that they are extremely excited to have identified a lead vaccine candidate from the partnership with BARDA and are moving on an accelerated timeline, withclinical trials expected to launch by September 2020 at the latest.

Moderna Ships mRNA Vaccine Against COVID-19 for Phase I Study

Biotechnology company, Moderna, recently announced that it has released the first batch of mRNA-1273, the company’s vaccine against COVID-19. The potential vaccine is to be used in the planned Phase 1 study in the US.

The vials have been shipped to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The vaccine encodes a prefusion stabilized form of the Spike (S) protein, which was selected by Moderna in collaboration with investigators at the NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC). Manufacturing was funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEIPI).

“I want to thank the entire Moderna team for their extraordinary effort in responding to this global health emergency with record speed. The collaboration across Moderna, with NIAID, and with CEPI has allowed us to deliver a clinical batch in 42 days from sequence identification,” Juan Andres, chief technical operations and quality officer at Moderna, said in the announcement.

“This would not have been possible without our Norwood manufacturing site, which uses leading-edge technology to enable flexible operations and ensure high quality standards are met for clinical-grade material.”

Most recently, Moderna has produced and released more than 100 batches from its Norwood site for human clinical trials. mRNA-1273 is part of the company’s vaccine modality, which has had six positive Phase I clinical readouts across six different vaccines over the past four years, the announcement stated.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Uncover Potential Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine recently announced PittCoVacc, a potential vaccine against COVID-19.

The vaccine candidate follows an established approach and uses lab-made pieces of viral protein to build immunity. Researchers also emphasized a delivery approach called microneedle array, which increases potency. 

The array is a patch of 400 needles that go on like a Band-Aid and deliver the spike protein into the skin.  The protein pieces are manufactured by a “cell factory” to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Mass-producing the microneedle array involves combining the protein and sugar into a mold using a centrifuge, the announcement stated. Once manufactured, the vaccine can sit at room temperature until it's needed, which eliminates the need for refrigeration during transport or storage

"We developed this to build on the original scratch method used to deliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but as a high-tech version that is more efficient and reproducible patient to patient," Falo said. "And it's actually pretty painless -- it feels kind of like Velcro,” said Louis Falo, MD, PhD, professor and chair of dermatology at Pitt's School of Medicine and UPMC. 

The vaccine has been tested in mice and generated a surge of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 two weeks after the microneedle prick. Experts are currently applying for an investigational new drug approval from the FDA in anticipation of starting a Phase I human clinical trial in the next few months. 

"Testing in patients would typically require at least a year and probably longer," Falo said. "This particular situation is different from anything we've ever seen, so we don't know how long the clinical development process will take. Recently announced revisions to the normal processes suggest we may be able to advance this faster."