Scientists are starting to get busy with the advent of the new mutation 'Omicron' in Corona 19.
This is because identifying the characteristics of the mutation is essential to making medicines to prevent events such as the recurrence of a pandemic caused by delta mutations.
According to Bloomberg News on the 27th, research centers in Europe, the United States, and Africa are preparing an experiment to reveal the identity of Omicron.
The news agency reported that it would take at least several weeks to find a solution, citing academic and pharmaceutical industry insiders.
The possibility that Omicron has a stronger contagious power than the existing mutation holds true.
Wendy Barclay, professor of virology at Imperial College London, said: "It's biologically justified that this virus has made it highly contagious."
Professor Barclay introduced the principle that researchers approach this problem based on the knowledge they have accumulated while intensively researching COVID-19 after the pandemic.
In particular, he emphasized that real-world studies should be the starting point rather than laboratory studies or traditional epidemiology.
Unfortunately, unlike the delta mutation from India, the Omicron from South Africa bought time to prepare because of the swift response of the authorities.
Jeffrey Barrett, director of the COVID-19 genetics lab at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK, said South Africa understood that the outbreak was a problem and was quick to let the world know.
"At the time of the delta mutation, when we realized how things were going, the virus had already spread around the world," Barrett said.
The pharmaceutical industry also responded quickly when a new mutation appeared.
BioNtech, which co-developed the vaccine with Pfizer, said it has begun research on the new mutation, and said that it will be able to obtain data on vaccine response within two weeks.
Moderna announced that it had started developing a booster shot against Omicron, and said that it usually takes 60 to 90 days for the first experimental vaccine to be produced.
A spokesman for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, which jointly developed the antibody treatment 'Lonapreve' with the US pharmaceutical company Regeneron, said that its researchers are studying new mutations.
On the other hand, it is pointed out that not only the COVID-19 vaccine but also antiviral drugs can help to respond to mutations.
Omicron has 32 variants in the spike protein the virus uses to penetrate cells.
Because vaccines are developed to target the spike protein of a specific virus, mutations can defeat the immunity built up by the existing vaccine.
Professor Barclay suggested that antiviral drugs could be an alternative in that regard.
Instead of targeting the spike protein directly, antiviral drugs can be effective because they are designed to block viral replication.
Pfizer, which made a pill-type treatment, applied for emergency use approval in the United States on the 16th of this month, and on the 19th it went into review in the EU.
Molnupiravir, an oral treatment for COVID-19 developed by US pharmaceutical company Merck & Company (MSD), was first approved for use in the UK on the 4th.