Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Is Months Ahead Of Others, May Arrive By Sept-Oct 2020

After what seemed like forever, it's expected that AstraZeneca - a global biopharmaceutical firm, will soon announce breakthrough results on its pursuit for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The research backing this COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough involves brains from the University of Oxford -- all spearheaded by Sarah Catherine Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the university.

Reuters

The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, backed by Indian ICMR (as far as we are concerned), is also being trialled and mass-produced by Serum India Institute based in Pune, world's largest producer of vaccine doses by volume. They had announced in April 2020 that the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine that they're trialling should be ready by September and sold at Rs 1,000 per vaccine.

Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Due to be published in the Lancet first, the positive news is anticipated very soon as per an iTV report. AstraZeneca is already mass producing two billion doses of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate technically known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.

Based on initial trials of Oxford¡¯s COVID-19 vaccine, this success would mark an important milestone in the vaccine¡¯s pursuit, ensuring one thing - Oxford¡¯s vaccine development is months ahead of its counterparts.

A new report by Bloomberg sheds light on the reason behind this lead in Oxford¡¯s efforts. As can be judged, Sarah Gilbert has a crucial role to play in it. It was her expertise, as well as her past work around the coronavirus that helped.

No other COVID-19 vaccine first

(Representative Image: Reuters)

Oxford had started the human trials of its vaccine candidates on 1,100 people towards the end of April. The development phase for the vaccine was mere four months, ¡°a process that normally takes about five years,¡± mentions the Bloomberg report.

By June end, the team had reached the final stages of human testing and now AstraZeneca is reportedly due to announce the positive results soon. Once so, the vaccine will be in production by as early as September. All other candidates are either still in the initial stages of testing or are yet to start the testing on humans.

So no wonder that the world is waiting on ¡®ChAdOx1 nCoV-19,¡¯ the technical name of the vaccine. Sarah Gilbert and her team have managed to leapfrog other vaccine contenders to the point where ¡°it will likely finish vaccinating subjects in its big 10,000-person efficacy trial before other candidates even start testing on that scale,¡± the report cites Kate Bingham, chair of the U.K. government¡¯s Vaccine Taskforce.

The winning COVID-19 vaccine formula

An assessment to count T cells produced through the vaccination. (Image: John Cairns/University of Oxford)

Oxford¡¯s candidate is a viral vector type vaccine that makes use of a harmless virus to deliver the genetic material of a pathogen into cells. This genetic material is then supposed to generate an immune response in the body against the real pathogen.

The process is different from traditional vaccines that use weakened or inactivated form of the pathogen to stimulate an immune response. This new method is mentioned to be easier and hence quicker to develop.

Gilbert and team have used a chimpanzee adenovirus (a common cold virus) as the trojan horse in this case. The harmless virus has been inserted with SARS-CoV-2 virus¡¯ genetic material. The vaccine is thus meant to trick the immune system to fight back the COVID-19.

Building on past Coronavirus vaccine

Gilbert had previously worked on developing a vaccine on Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. MERS is another coronavirus that shares considerable similarity with SARS-CoV-2. The work ¡°gave Gilbert a running start when COVID-19 emerged¡± mentions the report.

Another complementing factor to the efforts was Oxford¡¯s own vaccine manufacturing facility. Thanks to the facility, the team was able to ¡°quickly manufacture the shot for the first phase of human trials.¡±

COVID-19 vaccine development

Sarah Gilbert (Image: John Cairns /University of Oxford)

In the trials on monkeys, six monkeys were vaccinated and then exposed to a massive dose of SARS-CoV-2 via multiple routes 28 days later. The exposure ¡°was much more than a person might encounter on public transportation or even in a COVID-19 ward.¡±

The animals showed no signs of pneumonia in their lungs even after the exposure. ¡°By all indications, they felt fine¡± records the report.

Sarah Gilbert is very confident in the candidate, saying the ¡°Oxford vaccine has an 80% probability of being effective in stopping people who are exposed to the novel coronavirus from developing COVID-19.¡±

So it is evident to an extent that the vaccine is generating the kind of antibody and T-cell (killer cell) that the team hoped for. Since the vaccine has already been licensed to AstraZeneca, it is only a matter of time before the firm starts its productions post a go ahead from Gilbert and her team.