The clinical trials for the PiCoVacc are about to start later this year after the vaccine candidate was deemed to be safe upon testing it on the monkeys.
As the deadly coronavirus wreaks havoc across the globe, the world is desperately in need of a vaccine. China, the country where the outbreak first took place, has shown positive results on animal trial results for a COVID-19 vaccine.
One of China's COVID-19 vaccine candidates has effectively worked on monkeys, according to a report on May 6 in Science magazine. This is being considered as the world~s first animal trial reports for a coronavirus vaccine.
The researchers isolated the virus from 11 patients. Among those, five were from China, three were from Italy, one was from Switzerland, one was from the UK and one was from Spain.
After that, the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate was tested on animals--mice, rats and non-human primates, and the animals developed coronavirus neutralizing antibodies which effectively fought off 10 different coronavirus strains isolated from the above-mentioned patients.
Then, two different doses of the vaccine were given to eight rhesus macaques. Three weeks later, the group infected the monkeys with the cornavirus, however, none contracted the infection.
A research team led by Qin Chuan, the director of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, and those from Beijing-based company Sinovac Biotech jointly authored the report.
The clinical trials for the PiCoVacc are about to start later this year after the vaccine candidate was deemed to be safe upon testing it on the monkeys.
Currently, there are seven countries who have put their vaccines for clinical trials--four by China, one by the US, one by the UK and one co-developed by the US and Germany.
Meanwhile, Italy and Israel have also informed that it has developed a vaccine.
According to reports, the tests are being carried out at Rome's infectious-disease Spallanzani Hospital and the researchers have successfully managed to generate antibodies in mice that work on human cells.
On Tuesday, Israel's Defence Minister Naftali Bennett informed that country's Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) has made a "significant breakthrough" in developing an antibody to the novel coronavirus.
Scientists at the country's main biological research institute have wrapped up the development phase and moved to patent and mass-produce the potential treatment, reports said.
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