Three coronavirus vaccine candidates in clinical trials: WHO
By Park Si-soo
Seventy coronavirus vaccines are in development globally, with three candidates already being in clinical trials, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Leading the race is Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which are jointly developing an experimental vaccine, which is in phase II trials. The other two being tested on humans are being developed separately by U.S. drugmakers Moderna and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, according to WHO.
CanSino said last month it received Chinese regulatory approval to start human trials of its vaccine. Massachusetts-based Moderna received regulatory approval to move quickly to human trials in March, skipping the years of animal trials that are the norm in developing vaccines. Inovio began human trials last week.
To commercialize a vaccine normally takes five to 10 years, but developers are making all-out efforts to compress the time as soon as possible ― hopefully within next year.
South Korea has also jumped into the race, with President Moon Jae-in promising on April 9 to invest 210 billion won ($172.5 million) in companies developing a coronavirus vaccine and a treatment.
He said this at a meeting with vaccine experts and businessmen, including Celltrion CEO Seo Jung-jin; Genexine CEO Sung Young-chul; SK bioscience chief technology officer Kim Hoon; and Institut Pasteur Korea CEO Ryu ―Wang-shick.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Sanofi have vaccine candidates in preclinical stages, according to Bloomberg.