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Hyderabad: COVAXIN, India's first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, developed by Bharat Biotech, Hyderbad-based biotechnology firm in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), gets nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct Phase I and 2 human trials. According to the vaccine maker, human clinical trials of the experimental COVID-19 are scheduled to start across the country in July 2020. A note issued by the company says, "The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated in NIV, Pune and transferred to Bharat Biotech. The indigenous, inactivated vaccine was developed and...

By oxford’s eastern bypass road, some way from the famous spires, sits an unremarkable collection of glass office buildings that includes the Jenner Institute. Described by an industry observer as “a slightly dusty corner” of the university, until six months ago it mostly busied itself with useful but ill-funded research into diseases suffered by people in poor countries. Now it has become the likeliest candidate to produce the world’s first vaccine against covid-19. With governments all over the world pouring money into it, the effort to get a vaccine has come to resemble a more urgent version of the space...

Protesters against Africa’s first COVID-19 vaccine trial burned their face masks Wednesday as experts note a worrying level of resistance and misinformation around testing on the continent. Anti-vaccine sentiment in Africa is “the worst I’ve ever seen,” the CEO of the GAVI vaccine alliance, Seth Berkley, told an African Union vaccine conference last week. The trial that began last week in Johannesburg is part of one already underway in Britain of the vaccine developed at the University of Oxford. Some 2,000 volunteers in South Africa are expected to take part. “The people chosen as volunteers for the vaccination, they look...

An experimental Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the drug giant Pfizer and the biotech firm BioNTech spurred immune responses in healthy patients, but also caused fever and other side effects, especially at higher doses. The first clinical data on the vaccine were disclosed Wednesday in a paper released on MedRXiv, a preprint server, meaning it has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal. The Pfizer study randomly assigned 45 patients to get one of three doses of the vaccine or placebo. Twelve receive a 10 microgram dose, 12 a 30 μg dose, 12 a 100 μg dose, and...

Vaccines have gotten all the attention in the race to fight COVID-19, but there is a major push in the United States to develop antibody therapies to treat coronavirus. There's so much of a push that some scientists think these treatments may be available this year, even before a vaccine. Antibodies are the proteins the body makes to fight infection. Since the Victorian era, scientists have harnessed this natural protection for treatments. During the 1918 flu pandemic, doctors proved convalescent plasma — antibody-filled blood plasma from patients who recovered from the disease — could fight flu. Convalescent plasma has been...

We are seeing jurisdictions everywhere imposing mask bans at a rate that approaches the number of bars being threatened with liquor license revocation for failing to enforce social distancing. If that sentence seems complicated, then you are beginning to appreciate just how confusing all the arguments are about face coverings. After all, we have N95s, surgical masks, homemade cloth masks .. and the classic train robber bandana. Just for good measure, as I wore my cup-style dust mask on my last pass through Costco, I saw staff members wearing required face coverings that came from lathe section at Woodcraft. It...

Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) is seen as the front-runner in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. The clinical-stage biotech company has phase 2 trials underway for its vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 and is expected to commence phase 3 trials in July, in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. CEO Stephane Bancel recently estimated the probability of success of the vaccine at close to 80% to 90%, citing the effectiveness of the company’s RNA based platform on other viruses such as MERS, Zika, and Cytomegalovirus German biotech company BioNTech is working on a Covid-19 vaccine in partnership with Pfizer (NYSE:...

French drugmaker Sanofi SA said on Tuesday it expects to get approval for the potential COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline Plc by the first half of next year, faster than previously anticipated. Sanofi, which is hosting a virtual research and development event, and GSK had said in April the vaccine, if successful, would be available in the second half of 2021. “We are being guided by our dialogue with regulatory authorities,” Sanofi research chief John Reed told reporters, when asked about the accelerated time frame. There are currently no vaccines to prevent the coronavirus that has infected...

Hopes of a coronavirus vaccine were raised today after scientists found giving two doses of one of the most promising candidates offers more protection against the disease than just one. Researchers gave pigs Oxford University's experimental jab, which is currently being trialed on humans to determine whether it is safe and effective. Results showed pigs given two doses — known as a 'prime' and then a 'boost' — produced more antibodies, substances made and stored by the immune system to fight off a pathogen in the future. It is not uncommon for a jab to be split into two doses...

Stock extended gains Tuesday morning and the Nasdaq Composite hit a fresh record high as hopes for a coronavirus vaccine rose and U.S.-China trade fears dissipated. French drugmaker Sanofi (SNY, SNYNF) said on Tuesday that it anticipates it will receive approval for its potential Covid-19 vaccine it is creating with GlaxoSmithKline in the first half of 2021, which if successful would then be available in the second half of next year. While there are currently no vaccines to prevent the coronavirus, a host of pharmaceutical companies have entered the race to try and develop medicines to prevent and treat the...

An Italian infectious disease expert said that the CCP virus is losing its virulence and could disappear on its own without needing a vaccine. Professor Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the Policlinico San Martino hospital in Italy, said that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, is losing its ability to infect people and the mortality rate is decreasing. “The clinical impression I have is that the virus is changing in severity,” Bassetti told The Telegraph, adding that in March and early April, the patterns of virulence were very different from what...

As the Trump administration expresses optimism about the development of a vaccine for the coronvirus, a religious-liberty group is warning that the top vaccines under development are made with "aborted baby cell lines." The vaccines are not from aborted fetuses but from aborted baby cell lines used by researchers, says Liberty Counsel, which is running a campaign urging members of Congress and governors to oppose a government plan to force vaccinations. "As an American citizen who loves my country, my Constitution and my right to refuse forced vaccinations, I urge you to end all consideration of mandatory vaccinations," Liberty Counsel...

Researchers at an Israeli government center say that tests of a coronavirus vaccine have been successful on hamsters and the vaccine could be ready by the end of winter if human trials are allowed in the coming weeks. The country’s Ministry of Health must approve the start of the human trials by the Israel Institute for Biological Research, Israel’s Channel 12 News first reported. The vaccine developed at the institute in central Israel uses a VSV virus, which does not cause the disease in humans, according to the report. The VSV virus uses genetically engineered proteins that make up the...

Since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, a vaccine has been widely regarded as the best path toward reopening society and returning to normalcy. Scientists have worked around-the-clock to develop a vaccine even entering late-stage human studies at record speed for the disease that has killed more than 430,000 people worldwide. Yet, despite these Herculean efforts, scientists say a one-time cure-all is unlikely. Data on close cousins of the COVID-19 virus, including seasonal coronaviruses that cause the common cold, suggests the COVID-19 vaccine probably won't offer lifelong protection -- although more research is needed to understand how well and for...

The American Company Moderna held successful trials of the vaccine against coronavirus. The results of the trial showed that the medicine does not increase the risk of the exacerbation of the infection and can protect from the Covid-19 as bioRxiv reported. The company said that during the studies, the scientists held the trial of the vaccine in mice. The rodents got different amounts of vaccine, including doses, which are considered to be not strong enough to create protective immunity. After vaccine administration, the mice were infected with the coronavirus. Related: Israel claims cyber attacks on labs that worked on vaccine...

Beginning on Saturday June 13, 2020, Twitter trend #ExposeBillGates gained steam after activist groups and non-partisan coalition of alternative media organizations reportedly called for a Global Day of Action to spill the beans on Microsoft Corporation’s co-founder Bill Gates‘ alleged crimes against humanity and to control his agenda. By Sunday, Twitter broke like never before as netizens trended #ExposeBillGates by spilling out his alleged crimes on the Internet. As per theconsciousresistance.com, “Gates’ family also has ties to discredited eugenics science and believes billionaires like him should help reduce the world’s population.” Sharing links to “The Bill Gates documentary series” from...

Are you ready for re-education camps in the United States? Colorado has introduced a bill that would “re-educate” parents who refuse to vaccinate their child with the coronavirus vaccine. The bill forces all doctors and medical staff to give vaccinations with no exemptions, even if they are in a situation where they believe it would not be in that child’s best interest. The bill’s current version, however, does not list any sanctions or punishments for medical staff that refuse, according to Life News. The bill just passed through a committee in Colorado (20-14) to reduce available exemptions on vaccinations for...

An Israeli scientist says she has laid the groundwork for a vaccine against COVID-19 that is likely to work even if the virus mutates significantly. “I think that if coronavirus mutates, this vaccine would still be effective,” Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern told The Times of Israel. Frenkel-Morgenstern, head of Bar Ilan University’s Lab for the BioComputing of Complex Diseases, has filed a provisional US patent application for her research identifying 25 epitopes that she concluded can build immunity against COVID-19. She said that the epitopes — tiny protein segments that are part of short chains of amino acids known as peptides —...

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil this month will start testing an experimental vaccine against the novel coronavirus being developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L), Brazil’s health surveillance agency Anvisa and the Federal University of Sao Paulo (Unifesp) said. Anvisa authorized the testing late on Tuesday. Some 2,000 people will participate in the trial, which will be conducted with the support of the Health Ministry, Unifesp said. “The most important thing is to carry out this stage of the study now, when the epidemiological curve is still rising and the results may be more assertive,”...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European officials aim to speed up trials for coronavirus vaccines containing genetically modified organisms, two EU sources told Reuters, in a move that could help shots developed by companies like AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. The European Commission is expected to put forward the plans as early as next week. They are part of a wider EU strategy aimed at securing enough doses of a possible vaccine for the bloc as it fears lagging behind the United States and China. The reform is expected to reduce member states’ power to impose extra requirements on drug companies when...