A clinical trial to test a coronavirus vaccine on human subjects will begin Monday next week, according to US government official.
The first participant will receive the experimental vaccine on Monday in order to test for any potential side effects — but they will not be infected with the virus itself.
The trial is being funded by the National Institutes of Health and will take place in Seattle, the official told the Associated Press. It will involve 45 healthy volunteers at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.
But even if the tests go well, experts say it could take more than a year to develop and fully test a vaccine.
Professor Paul Young, head of the university’s school of chemistry and molecular biosciences, said the team of 20 had been working “around the clock” to speed up the process, identifying and replicating a key protein in the virus – which forms basis of their vaccine candidate – within just three weeks.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals also aims to begin safety tests of its vaccine candidate next month in a few dozen volunteers at the University of Pennsylvania and a testing centre in Kansas City, Missouri, followed by a similar study in China and South Korea.
Until now, there are still no proven treatments.
A coronavirus patient is getting treatment at a hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Source: AAP
In China, scientists have been testing a combination of HIV drugs against the new coronavirus, as well as an experimental drug named remdesivir that was in development to fight Ebola.
In the U.S., the University of Nebraska Medical Center also began testing remdesivir in some Americans who were found to have COVID-19 after being evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan.
Vaccine development in Australia
Meanwhile in Australia, Brisbane researchers say they are within reach of finding a cure for COVID-19 but need donations to accelerate the research.
In lab testing, two drugs have stopped Coronavirus in its tracks and a clinical trial on humans is ready to begin. One drug treats malaria, the other HIV.
Professor David Paterson, RBWH Infectious Diseases Physician who is overseeing the research said the drugs are “effective” but they are yet to determine whether “one is better than another”. Paterson said there is “potential” that this drug “could cure the infection”.
Even though the Chinese has already trialed the HIV drugs with no success, but according to Prof Paterson, in test tube studies both effectively kill the virus.
“We are going to coordinate with hospitals in NSW and Victoria so that we can all work on a common protocol to get the answers as quickly as possible,” Paterson said to 7News.
Professor David Paterson, director of the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and infectious disease physician at the RBWH Source: Supplied
If the trial is successful, within three months researchers should know whether these drugs are effective in treating COVID-19.
The trial can begin within weeks but researchers need $750,000 to fund it.
