Washington (AFP)
The worldwide race to find vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus has started, while a first clinical trial is underway in the United States.
"It's going to be a lot of trial and error, but we have a lot of options to explore," said judge Benjamin Neuman, virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. A highly effective vaccine against a member of the coronavirus family has never been designed for humans.
President Donald Trump has urged scientists and the pharmaceutical industry to speed up the process, but experts fear there is little room for maneuver. Here is an overview of the players in the pharmaceutical sector - small or large - who take part in this vital competition:
- Moderna
Objective: a vaccine
Potential availability: within 12 to 18 months
The first clinical trial to test a candidate vaccine against the new coronavirus began Monday in Seattle, US health officials said.
The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the biotechnology company Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Participants will still have to go through different phases to determine if the vaccine is effective and safe.
It works with genetic information from the part of the virus that attaches to and infects cells, spikes called spicule proteins.
This information is stored in a substance called "messenger RNA" which carries the genetic code from DNA to cells.
If everything goes as planned, it could then be marketed within a year and a half, assuming the epidemic continues until the next flu season, according to Mr. Fauci.
Gilead Sciences
Objective: treatment
Potential availability: later in the year
Of all the drugs vying to fight Covid-19, the American Gilead's remdesivir may be the first to hit the market.
The antiviral has been developed against other viruses like Ebola (without being effective) and has not yet been approved anywhere. But it has shown promise in treating coronavirus patients in China, doctors say, and has been used to help treat two patients in the United States and France.
Gilead launches the latest phase of clinical trials in Asia, known as "Phase 3".
"There is only one drug at the moment that we think could be really effective. And that's remdesivir," said Bruce Aylward, a manager at a press conference. the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the director of the American National Institute of Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, expert of Donald Trump on the coronavirus, this antiviral could be available "in the next months".
Remdesivir changes inside the human body to look like one of the four building blocks of DNA, the nucleotides.
When viruses replicate, they do so "quickly and somewhat carelessly," according to virologist Benjamin Neuman. Remdesivir could be incorporated into the virus during one of these replications. The antiviral would add unwanted mutations to the virus that could destroy it.
Regeneron
Objective: treatment and vaccine
Potential availability: to be determined
Regeneron developed a drug administered intravenously last year, known as "monoclonal antibodies", which has significantly improved the survival rate of patients affected by the Ebola virus.
The company has genetically modified mice so that they have a human-like immune system. Mice have been exposed to viruses, attenuated forms of viruses, or viral proteins to make human antibodies, Christos Kyratsous, vice president of research at Regeneron, told AFP.
These antibodies are then isolated and examined to select the most effective, which are cultured in laboratories, purified and then administered to humans intravenously.
"If all goes well and it should be, we should know which are the best antibodies in the next few weeks", and clinical trials are expected to start this summer, according to the official.
The drug could work as both a treatment and a vaccine, giving it to people before they are exposed, although the effects would only be temporary because the antibodies will not be part of the immune system memory. people.
Regeneron is also trying to fight the inflammation of the lungs that develops during severe forms of the new coronavirus by using another of its drugs, Kevzara, originally intended to treat inflammations caused by arthritis.
The latter thus treats a symptom and not the virus itself.
Sanofi
Objective: a vaccine
Availability: to be determined
The French pharmaceutical group Sanofi has teamed up with the US Department of Health to develop a vaccine candidate, using "recombinant DNA technology".
It consists in combining the DNA of the virus with the DNA of a harmless virus in order to create a new cellular entity capable of provoking an immune response.
The antigens created by this operation can then be reproduced on a large scale.
This technology is already the basis of Sanofi's flu vaccine. Thanks to its research work on SARS, in particular its vaccine candidate which has shown partial protection on animals, the company believes to be "a step ahead" in the rapid development of a vaccine against the Covid-19.
David Loew, executive vice-president and head of Sanofi Pasteur, estimated that he could have a vaccine candidate "in less than six months" and potentially enter clinical trial "in about a year to a year and a half".
Inovio Pharmaceuticals
Objective: a vaccine
Potential availability: emergency deliveries by the end of the year?
Inovio, an American biotechnology company, has worked since its creation in 1983 on DNA vaccines, which work like the other RNA-based vaccines mentioned above, but further up the chain.
DNA is like a reference book in a bookstore, and RNA is similar to photocopying a page from that book where there would be instructions for performing a task.
"We plan to start clinical trials in the United States in April and then quickly in China and South Korea, where the epidemic affects most people," said J. Joseph Kim, president of Innovio, in a statement. .
"We plan to deliver one million doses by the end of the year using our existing resources and capabilities."
Other notable research:
Like Moderna, CureVac is working with the University of Queensland on a vaccine with "messenger RNA". Its CEO Daniel Menichella met with White House officials a few days ago and is planning a candidate vaccine within a few months.
The British behemoth GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is collaborating with a Chinese biotech to make available its technology for manufacturing adjuvants for vaccines against epidemics.
An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to increase the immune response, to create stronger and more lasting immunity than the vaccine alone against infections.
In the United States, the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson plans to use some of its drugs to see if they can help treat the symptoms of patients already infected with the virus.
She is also working on the development of a vaccine with a deactivated version of the pathogen.
California biotech company Vir has isolated antibodies from SARS survivors to see if they can treat the new coronavirus. His laboratory has already developed treatments for Ebola and other diseases.
Chloroquine, the synthetic form of quinine, used to treat malaria, could also help fight the virus and scientists are calling for more work on the subject.
© 2020 AFP