China News Service Client, Beijing, May 20 (Reporter Zhang Ni) More than 7 billion people were affected, and more than 300,000 lives were taken ... A menacing new pneumonia epidemic has become the most serious since the end of World War II Global public health emergencies.
Facing the raging epidemic, people hope to develop an effective vaccine as soon as possible to get rid of the threat posed by the virus.
Today, many countries press the "fast forward button" in the field of research and development. China is not only the "first echelon" in progress, but also proposes that the new crown vaccine will be used as a global public product after it has been developed and put into use. But on the other side, the United States has played its own abacus on the vaccine issue, causing international public doubt.
Data figure: Researchers are demonstrating the experimental process of developing a new coronavirus mRNA vaccine. Photo by Tang Yanjun
China is at the forefront of new crown vaccine research and development
"After the research and development of China's new crown vaccine is completed and put into use, it will serve as a global public product and make China's contribution to achieving the availability and affordability of vaccines in developing countries."
On the evening of the 18th, Beijing time, Chinese President Xi Jinping made the above statement when he delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Health Assembly video conference.
Under the turbulent epidemic, every step of China's development in the field of vaccine research and development has attracted attention.
Just recently, the Chinese scientific research team published a paper online in the US "Science" magazine, saying that they have discovered two human monoclonal antibodies that can effectively block the infection of the new coronavirus, which is expected to be used in the development of anti-new crown drugs and vaccines.
The researchers isolated four human monoclonal antibodies from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a newly rehabilitated patient. Experiments show that these four antibodies have the ability to neutralize the new coronavirus. Among them, two antibodies called B38 and H4, respectively, can block the binding of the receptor binding domain of the new crown virus spike protein and its receptor "Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2)".
The two antibodies screened have the potential to be further developed into new coronavirus infection drugs and provide a basis for vaccine design. At present, the two antibodies have been transformed into products by related companies, and are expected to be used for clinical treatment of patients with new crowns in the future.
Earlier reports said that at least more than 15 domestic enterprises and scientific research institutions have launched scientific research in vaccine development. It can be said that China has been at the forefront of the development of new crown vaccines worldwide.
At the press conference of the State Council Office on May 15, Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health and Health Commission, said that a recombinant adenovirus vector vaccine and four inactivated vaccine projects have been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration to carry out clinical trials. No reports of major adverse reactions have been received. If all goes well, the above projects will be completed in phase 2 clinical trials in July this year.
In addition, Zeng Yixin said that the vaccine development work of several other technical routes is also progressing smoothly and orderly. It is expected that some projects will be approved by the State Food and Drug Administration to enter the clinical trial phase starting in June.
The picture shows the screenshot of the announcement
Sino-Canadian cooperation vaccine has been approved for clinical trials in Canada
In addition to local R & D progress, China is also actively expanding international cooperation in the field of vaccines.
On the 18th, Concino Bio announced that the company obtained the approval of the clinical trial application of the recombinant coronavirus vaccine (adenovirus vector) (Ad5-nCoV) by Health Canada on May 15.
As one of the few vaccines against neocoronaviruses in the world, Ad5-nCoV has entered Phase II human clinical trials in China in mid-April and at the same time in the world.
Ad5-nCoV was jointly developed by the Institute of Bioengineering of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the Academy of Biology and Military Sciences. Ad5-nCoV is constructed using genetic engineering methods and uses replication-deficient human adenovirus type 5 as a vector to express new coronavirus S antigens. It is intended to prevent diseases caused by new coronavirus infections.
Earlier, the project leader, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and researcher of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Chen Wei once explained its principle: Under the premise of "learning" the virus, "surgery" the virus, using the method of transplanting flowers to replace the one we need The carrier virus, and injected into the body to produce immunity.
As the other party to the vaccine cooperation, the head of the Canadian Vaccine Center told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that it hopes that relevant clinical trials can begin within the next two weeks. The clinical trial will be conducted in three phases, and the participating population will gradually expand.
Figure: New York City under the epidemic
Countries press R & D " fast forward button " America wants to fight alone?
In the face of a large number of people diagnosed with infection, the sooner a safe and reliable vaccine is developed, the more beneficial it is for human society to resume normal production and life.
The list released by the World Health Organization on May 15 shows that there are currently 118 R & D new coronavirus vaccine projects in the world, of which 8 vaccines have entered clinical trials.
The eight new crown vaccines that have entered the clinical trial stage can be said to be the "first echelon" in progress. Among them, there are 4 in China; 3 in the United States, including mRNA vaccines from Modena, mRNA vaccines from Pfizer, and DNA vector vaccines from Inovio; 1 in the UK is an adenovirus vaccine from Oxford University.
Earlier, Tan Desai, Director General of the World Health Organization, also announced a joint initiative with global partners to "globally cooperate to accelerate the development, production, and fair access to new tools for the prevention and control of new pneumonia".
The initiative was widely supported at the International Pledge Conference for the New Coronary Pneumonia Outbreak hosted by the European Union. Countries have pledged to provide 7.4 billion euros of funds to promote the development, production, and equitable distribution of the new crown vaccine.
However, on the issue of cooperative vaccine development, the United States sang a counter tone.
Previously, executives of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said that because the United States has provided the most funds for the development of its new crown vaccine, the United States has priority in obtaining and using vaccines. As soon as this remark came out, it caused an uproar in international public opinion.
Under pressure from the French government and the international community, the pharmaceutical company finally changed its mind that the United States only has priority for vaccines produced in its territory, while vaccines produced in France and Europe will not be given priority to the United States.
In contrast, at the International Pledge Conference in response to the New Coronary Pneumonia Outbreak, the US government became a hairless rooster. But according to US officials, the US government is investing billions of dollars in research work on its own.
What is more intriguing is that a few days ago, US President Trump has personally admitted that the United States has begun researching new coronavirus vaccines since January 11. As we all know, China shared the genome sequence information of the new coronavirus with the World Health Organization on January 12, and the first case of new coronary pneumonia announced by the United States appeared on January 22.
If Trump's statement is true, where do the strains used in American research come from?
What worries the outside world is that the United States is “eager to achieve success” in its R & D progress. Earlier, foreign media reported that the US government urged multiple departments and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate vaccine research and development. Under such circumstances, the vaccines developed by some companies in the United States skip animal experiments and directly conduct human clinical trials, and their safety raises questions.
Data map: On March 17, a graduate student was doing experiments in the National Research Center for Diagnostic Infectious Diseases and Vaccines of Xiamen University. China News Agency reporter Li Siyuan
When can a safe and reliable vaccine be used?
So, when can we really use safe and reliable vaccines?
For this issue, the optimistic time point given by some of the previous media is September this year.
For example, earlier Pfizer and German pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced that their new coronavirus vaccine will begin human testing in the United States on May 4. If the test is successful, the vaccine will be ready for emergency use in the United States as early as September.
British Minister of Commerce Sharma also said recently that the country's vaccine development is progressing rapidly. If successful, the UK is expected to produce 30 million vaccines in September.
However, there are some different voices in the industry.
The European Medicines Agency revealed on the 14th that if the situation is optimistic, a new coronavirus vaccine is expected to be approved within one year. But the vaccine is unlikely to be ready in September. According to the head of the Vaccine Department of the European Medicines Agency, one year later, in early 2021, you may see optimism.
Some analysis pointed out that from now on, there are still more than three months to September. Scientists have to find a large enough sample size to complete the second and third phase tests to confirm the safety, and it is not difficult.
Lu Shan, a former president of the International Vaccine Society and a professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, once said that vaccine preparation faces many practical problems. For example, traditional phase III clinical trials require symptomatic populations, huge investment in vaccine research and development, and complicated discussions between experts and institutions. When to get the vaccine depends on the balance of the four forces of science, technology, regulatory agencies and social needs.
Despite this, vaccine research and development and production preparations are still being actively promoted.
Recently, the first domestic P3 biopharmaceutical production workshop project was successfully delivered. The completion of the project marks the birth of the world's largest new crown vaccine production workshop, with an annual production capacity of 100 million doses after mass production, and production conditions that meet large-scale emergency use and routine vaccination. (Finish)