Coronavirus: with a pandemic confirmed, the race is now on to develop a vaccine
- Boss of Chinese research company says it could have a product on the market this year if testing goes well
- Phase one trials of a nucleic acid vaccine set to get under way in Seattle this week, US expert says
More than 134,000 people were infected in more than 100 countries as of Thursday. The pathogen has killed more than 5,000 people.
Researchers around the globe are trying different approaches to make a vaccine for the virus known as Sars-CoV-2. They include the conventional use of dead or weakened pathogens and others that are genetically modelled. It is unclear how long the development will take. The previous Sars epidemic happened 17 years ago, but no vaccine has been developed.
“That’s the big question,” said Neil King, a vaccine researcher and assistant professor at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington.
“I think nucleic acid vaccines, like mRNA, will be fastest – there’s a phase one trial from Moderna starting this week in Seattle.”
King was referring to the mRNA vaccine candidate by biotechnology company Moderna, which is based in Massachusetts in the US. Working with the US-funded National Institutes of Health, the vaccine is the closest to human testing, with a trial planned for 45 people in Seattle this month.