© Provided by The Motley Fool 3 Coronavirus Vaccines in Phase 3 Clinical Studies: How They Stack Up Against Each Other Posted on 09/18/2020 8:50:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Any way you look at it, the numbers related to coronavirus vaccine candidates in development are impressive. In less than nine months, researchers have advanced 180 experimental coronavirus vaccines at least into preclinical testing. Thirty-five of those candidates are now in clinical studies, according to the World Health Organization. © Provided by The Motley Fool 3 Coronavirus Vaccines in Phase 3 Clinical Studies: How They Stack Up Against Each Other
The field narrows considerably, though, when we look only at vaccine candidates that have made it to late-stage testing. Currently, only three experimental coronavirus vaccines are in phase 3 clinical trials being conducted in the U.S.:
Here's how these three coronavirus vaccines in phase 3 testing stack up against each other.
Pfizer's and BioNTech's BNT162b2 and Moderna's MRNA-1273 use a similar approach to immunizing against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Both experimental vaccines rely on injecting modified messenger RNA (mRNA) into the body.
This mRNA contains instructions that direct ribosomes to build proteins that mirror the novel coronavirus' spike protein. The body's antibodies and T cells then target the spike protein. This prepares the immune system to fight off a future infection by the "real" coronavirus.
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford took a different path with AZD1222. The vaccine candidate uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that infects chimpanzees -- adenovirus -- to deliver genetic material from the novel coronavirus spike protein. As is the case with BNT162b2 and MRNA-1273, AZD1222 spurs the body's immune system to respond and remember how to attack SARS-CoV-2 in any future infections.
One key way to compare the three late-stage coronavirus vaccine candidates is to look at their funding and supply deals. Big money is flowing to the most promising experimental vaccines.
Moderna has received commitments of up to $2.48 billion from the U.S. government for its mRNA-1273 program. This includes a $955 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop the vaccine candidate and $1.525 billion from the U.S. government to supply 100 million doses of mRNA-1273. Moderna is also in discussions with the European Commission and the Japanese government to supply doses of its vaccine.
In May, BARDA committed to funding up to $1.2 billion for AstraZeneca's development of AZD1222. The big drugmaker signed a $750 million deal in June with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi the Vaccine Alliance to supply 300 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine. AstraZeneca has also inked agreements with the Serum Institute of India to supply 1 billion doses for low- and middle-income countries and with the European Commission to supply up to 400 million doses for undisclosed amounts.
Pfizer and BioNTech made the decision not to accept U.S. government funding for the development of BNT162b2. However, the two companies have lined up several major supply deals. In July, Pfizer and BioNTech agreed to provide 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government for $1.95 billion. The companies also signed deals to supply Canada with up to 100 million doses and Japan with 120 million doses. The financial terms of these agreements weren't disclosed.
Perhaps the most important criterion to use in comparing the phase 3 coronavirus vaccines is their clinical progress. On this front, one vaccine especially stands out.
Pfizer and BioNTech expect to report efficacy results for BNT162b2 by the end of October. If all goes well, this could lead to the companies becoming the first to win emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has indicated that it's willing to grant EUA for coronavirus vaccines even before phase 3 testing is complete.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel has stated in the past that his company could report interim results from the phase 3 testing of mRNA-1273 in October or November. However, those comments came before the biotech slowed down enrollment of its late-stage trials to increase the diversity of participants.
AstraZeneca was, at one point, rumored to be the lead prospect to win EUA from the FDA as early as October. However, the big pharma company paused its phase 3 trials recently after one participant experienced a severe adverse event. AstraZeneca has since resumed testing in the U.K. but still awaits approval from the FDA to restart its late-stage trial in the U.S. CEO Pascal Soriot, though, still anticipates that the company will report interim results from the phase 3 study of AZD1222 before the end of 2020.
There's also another company that's hot on the heels of the three frontrunners. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) expects to start phase 3 testing of coronavirus vaccine candidate Ad26.COV2.S this month. It's possible that J&J could give the others a run for their money.
J&J is by far the largest player in the healthcare sector, so it has ample financial resources to fund the development and distribution of its coronavirus vaccine. The company already stands to receive $1 billion to supply 100 million doses of Ad26.COV2.S to the U.S. government.
Unlike the coronavirus vaccines being developed by AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer/BioNTech, J&J's experimental vaccine requires only one dose to be administered. This advantage could be enough to eventually make the healthcare giant the biggest winner of all in the coronavirus vaccine market.
Keith Speights owns shares of Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In July, Pfizer and BioNTech agreed to provide 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government for $1.95 billion.
Well, the coronavirus is becoming a real boon for the auto and yacht companies. Real estate too. I wonder how many Harleys the taxpayers have bought as well.
Who’s going to use the 100 million doses?
I doubt there are 50 million adults in this country who want the vaccine (and lots more who won’t want their children to take it)
None of the current quickie COVID vaccines are really vaccines in the traditional sense of a vaccine that injects target virus fragments (antigens) that the body reacts to by making protective antibodies.
Instead, what these quickie "vaccines" really are is a giant gene therapy experiment to be conducted simultaneously on billions of people. Instead of the actual target virus fragments (antigens), what will be injected is a live, laboratory-made synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA that contains spliced-in DNA/RNA of COVID target virus fragments (antigens) so that your own body itself will manufacture the target virus fragments (antigens) when the synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA enters your cells and hijacks their protein-production machinery, with the body subsequently producing the protective COVID antibodies to the self-made COVID target virus fragments (antigens).
Heretofore, such recombinant DNA/RNA techniques first mixes the synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA into a bioreactor containing living cells where the synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA invades the cells, multiplies, hijacks the cell machinery, and produces the target virus fragments (antigens) encoded in the synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA. The manufactured target virus fragments (antigens) are then extracted and purified. These virus fragments (antigens) in turn are the only active ingredient in the vaccine when it's injected into people being vaccinated. Subsequently, the body produces protective antibodies to develop immunity to the injected virus fragments (antigens). The Flublok influenza vaccine is manufactured this way, for example (see below).
However, the "new" gene therapy technology injects the synthetic virus/plasmid/mRNA directly into people being "vaccinated", skipping the bioreactor, target virus fragment reproduction, extraction, and purification steps, and instead uses the human body directly as the "bioreactor". This is a technique heretofore never tried before, yet the plans are to try this on billions of people all at once. However, this gene therapy "vaccine" technology is not even really a new technology at all because it's been around for a while, but big pharma knew that they could never get away with such gene therapy experimentation on billions of people UNTIL COVID came along and the FDA could eliminate the bulk of their previous vaccine safety requirements because COVID emergency ...
I for one do NOT wish to participate in this experiment ...I think I'll wait a few years and see how millions of other people react first ...
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This is how FluBlok influenza vaccine (a conventional recombinant DNA/RNA vaccine) is made:
https://sanofiflu.com/pdf/Flublok-Quadrivalent-Flashcard.pdf
There are also several more vaccines in the works from labs in U.K., Russia, communist China, Israel, and possibly more.
The AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines are NOT mRNA products, nor are they designed to invade the cells of the body.
I do not yet believe mRNA vaccines until I see GOOD clinical trial evidence (which is needed for any vaccine anyway). But I believe that there will be at least one vaccine that is deemed safe and effective by the FDA and equivalent European agencies by January 2021 or so, with the trials published in leading medical journals.
When that occurs, I intend to take that vaccine, and to recommend that others do so. Then we can end the totalitarian nonsense that says that a STUPID MASK is as good as a vaccine, such as was promulgated last week!!!!
How do I get to try one?
The development of a Covid-19 will be important for public perception and the reopening of the economy, in addition to protection from Covid. However, since the epidemic appears to be on the decline, and since most of the Covid-19 deaths have been comorbidities, it is probably even more important to get the flu and pneumonia vaccines.
There are 330M people in this country. Polling indicates on the worst day that 50% of people would take the vaccine. This means 150M vaccines would be required. Why people engage in verifiably incorrect statements (which I assume is simply hyperbole) is beyond me.
They’ve had nearly 100,000 volunteers between the three candidates listed who signed up to take a vaccine that wasn’t even approved by the FDA yet. No signs of any difficulty finding people ready to jump right in.
Once FDA approval has been granted following the results of phase 3 trials where tens of thousands of closely monitored volunteers have been testing a vaccine for several months, people will flock to receive a dose.
Forget it, he spams that same fearmongering nonsense to every thread mentioning vaccines.
Just more fearmongering from Team Biden, trying to scare people away so they won’t give President Trump the credit he deserves for Operation Warp Speed.
I’m quite aware of the fear-mongering propaganda of the commies and Biden, which the anti-vaxxers exacerbate, to the detriment of us all!!!!
I still prefer the one-shot J&J vaccine—PROVIDED it is proven safe and effective in Phase 3 clinical trials, approved by the FDA, and published in leading medical journals. As a bonus, this vaccine is Bill Gates-free!!!!
THEN, I want us to all take the vaccine, and get back to NORMAL—NOT “new normal”—with a reelected Trump administration and hopefully a Republican Congress!!!!
“The AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines are NOT mRNA products”
the AstraZeneca is however a synthetic virus with COVID DNA inserted for the covid spike protein, and like the mRNA vaccines it does invade the cells and hijacks the ribosomes and forces your body to manufacture the covid spike protein, just like the other two mRNA vaccines listed in the article ...
in other words, all three of the vaccines mentioned as being in Phase 3 fundamentally do the same thing: they hijack the ribosomes in the cells to manufacture the spike protein antigen, whereas conventional vaccines inject the antigen itself ...
whatever the J&J vaccine is,i wasn’t referring to it: I was just referring to the “3 Coronavirus Vaccines in Phase 3 Clinical Studies
“Forget it, he spams that same fearmongering nonsense to every thread mentioning vaccine”
which part is “nonsense”?
Most of it. Here’s a breakdown from an earlier response I gave to you: https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3880175/posts?page=50#50
But I can see you’ve adjusted some of your copy-and-paste text, so I’ll add a few things.
“those quickie COVID “vaccines””
They’re not “quickie”. They’re going through the same safety and efficacy testing process as any other drug or vaccine. And getting faster at producing candidates is not new. In the early 20th century, it took decades to come up with a viable vaccine candidate. In the 1990s, it was down to under 5 years. By 2003 (SARS 2003), viable candidates were produced in 20 months. By 2014 with Ebola, it was down to 7 months. By 2016 with Zika, it was down to 6 months. Now in 2020, with the entire world’s efforts directed at the task, we got it done in 2 months.
This isn’t some rush job, much as the Democrats (and some people who call themselves pro-Trump) claim. This is the culmination of a century of incremental progress where we got a little bit faster as our knowledge, understanding, and available tools improved.
“are really vaccines in the traditional sense of a vaccine that injects target virus fragments (antigens) that the body reacts to by making protective antibodies.”
That’s NOT a traditional vaccine at all. A traditional (gen 1) vaccine would be injecting inactivated or weakened forms of the pathogen into the body. And plenty of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates do EXACTLY that. Here’s a list of them: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/novel-coronavirus-landscape-covid-19-(3)4b6debde1bdc4a85ae67d4ce578be1bf.pdf?sfvrsn=57c0b234_3&download=true
The problem is that’s slow and difficult to do. The second gen vaccines like Hepatitis B, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Meningitis B, and others take the antigen and attach it to another harmless virus (usually something that can’t replicate in humans). That’s the most common COVID-19 vaccine candidate type. They’re not as slow to make as gen 1 vaccines, and they’re less dangerous (no risk of a bad batch like what happened with the Cutter Incident). But they do still take time to produce and sometimes result in allergies depending on how they’re cultured.
“programmed to invade the cells in our body and hijack their protein production machinery, namely the ribosomes”
There’s nothing “programmed” here. The mRNA platform uses a simple lipid shell. There’s no “programming” If it bumps into the right structure (the cell membrane for most cells), the lipid shell essentially melts into the membrane, releasing the messenger RNA inside the cell.
And there you go with that “hijack” word again, attempting to put ominous tones to something that’s completely normal and harmless. Ribosomes takes messenger RNA presented to them and build whatever protein is encoded. Nothing is being “hijacked”. And the glycoprotein being built (the SARS-CoV-2 antigen) is harmless. But the immune system recognizes it as foreign and that sparks a T-cell and B-cell response, which results in lasting immunity. These are all GOOD things.
“Instead, what these quickie “vaccines” really are is a giant gene therapy experiment to be conducted simultaneously on billions of people.”
False. This is where you jump the shark. There’s no “gene therapy” going on. There is no mechanism for ANY alteration of ANY DNA in any human cell with ANY of the vaccine candidates. You’ve literally made this up out of nothing.
“The Flublok influenza vaccine”
Your graphic doesn’t show what you think it does, or you’re being dishonest about it. They grow (technically culture) the antigens in proprietary host cells in a laboratory. NOT in human beings. NOT in anyone receiving the vaccine. They just need to produce tons of antigens for their particular vaccine.
This is completely different from the Moderna mRNA approach. One has NOTHING to do with the other. There is NO vaccine candidate for COVID-19 or any other disease which has ANY mechanism to edit human DNA. Does not exist. Zero evidence to support that it exists. Claim is utterly false and without merit.
i went back and checked your posting history on vaccines and noticed that you called everyone you disagreed with a “fear-monger” ...
“programmed to invade the cells in our body and hijack their protein production machinery, namely the ribosomes”
“The mRNA platform uses a simple lipid shell. There’s no “programming” If it bumps into the right structure (the cell membrane for most cells), the lipid shell essentially melts into the membrane, releasing the messenger RNA inside the cell.” = “programmed to invade the cells in our body”
“Ribosomes takes messenger RNA presented to them and build whatever protein is encoded.” = “hijack the cell’s ribosomes”
I call posts that claim nonsense meant to strike fear into people fearmongering, regardless of the subject matter. But even moreso when that nonsense is ripped straight from the Democrats’ 2020 playbook. Calling the vaccines rushed, dangerous, and so on. All it does is serve to take away from one of the pillars of President Trump’s reelection campaign: ending COVID-19.
Stick to facts and avoid Democrat talking points that attack President Trump’s reelection campaign and we’ll get along famously. Try spreading misinformation intended to instill doubt in what President Trump is trying to do for the country and I’ll be right here to correct the record.
I’ll take language designed to make innocuous things sound nefarious in order to spread fear for 500, Alex!
You’re coloring the language to turn this into something it isn’t.
“You’re coloring the language to turn this into something it isn’t.”
as are you with your: “it bumps into the right structure (the cell membrane for most cells), the lipid shell essentially melts into the membrane”
“bumps into”
“melts into the membrane”
ROTFLOL!
don’t every recall seeing that kind of language in any biomolecular text books ...
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