In this year, as early as this fall, will there be a'corona vaccine' that will save us? On this day, the'green light' that inflated expectations was turned on one after another. Three vaccine development companies representing the United Kingdom, the United States, and China have delivered hopeful news side by side.

The three main players are AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company, Oxford University, UK, Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, and Bioentech, a German pharmaceutical company, and Kansino, a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

As these leading companies accelerate the development of vaccines, the movement to secure vaccines in each country is also accelerating.

In [Pick Q&A], let's take a look at how far Korea is coming from the competition to secure corona vaccines that are showing the movement of'national priority'.
Q. What is the most popular vaccine?

A. It is evaluated as a corona vaccine developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca by the University of Oxford, UK. This vaccine has been noted as the most promising vaccine by WHO and the International Vaccine Institute.

The two organizations today announced that the corona vaccine, which is currently under development, induces an immune response as a result of early clinical trials, through a medical journal, Lancet.

On the same day, Pfizer also said it was successful in inducing an immune response in the second initial trial of the test Corona 19 vaccine, and Kansino also announced that it had safely elicited an antibody immune response from the vaccination group.

Q. How did it work specifically?

A. The Oxford University study was the result of two primary and secondary clinical trials of the self-developed vaccine in 1,077 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55.

Researchers say that all of the vaccinated individuals responded to antibodies and T-cell formation in the body.

Antibodies act to prevent the virus from penetrating cells, and T cells are highly immune cells against which the vaccine fights Corona19 virus.

A month after the first dose, 91% of the dosers identified a'neutralizing antibody' that neutralizes the virus, and a month after the second dose, 100% of the dosers found a neutralizing antibody.

Neutralizing antibodies function to prevent proteins that infect cells from entering the cells, and T cells are known to destroy cells already infected with the virus.

No serious side effects were reported, and there were temporary injection site pains, headaches, fatigue, chills, fever, and muscle pain, but were known to be within control.


Q. When is the commercialization of a vaccine created by a research team at Oxford University?

A. The team expects to be able to provide vaccines to the United Kingdom from September this year and the United States from October.

Q. Is there already a'Vaccine War' in each country?

A. A non-governmental international organization that provides vaccines to developing countries. The Global Vaccine Immunization Association (GAVI) is concerned about'vaccine nationalism'. Some countries are trying to wipe out the vaccine with money.

First of all, the United States and Brazil, which suffered severe corona19 damage, are aggressive.

The United States is expected to receive 300 million people in exchange for investing $1.2 billion (1.400 trillion won) in research at Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The United States, which has been competing for vaccines since the beginning, has signed several supply contracts with its own company, Modena and Johnson & Johnson.

Brazil is said to have agreed to purchase 100 million AstraZeneca vaccines, and it is particularly noteworthy that they have invested 127 million dollars (about 150 billion dollars) unconditionally, regardless of the clinical outcome.

The UK has also signed a contract to receive a total of 100 million vaccines, including 30 million, from AstraZeneca by September.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo is known to receive the original solution of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and produce it through its own facility.

Q. Then what about our country?

A. It is known that AstraZeneca and Korea have not yet signed a technology transfer agreement, and no domestic clinical trial plans have been confirmed.

Currently, there are 18 domestic clinical trial plans approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety related to Corona 19, and two clinical trials related to vaccines.

Genexine, a new drug developer, is planning to conduct phase 1 clinical trials in Korea in the second half of this year until September, and biopharmaceutical company Meditox has also entered into phase 1 clinical trials with Australian vaccine companies.

Although it is not a vaccine, Celltrion, a leading bio company in Korea, announced that it will start commercial production of corona treatment in September.

'News Pick'.