The Race to Find a Cure for the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic

Biotechnology companies currently introduced some remedies intended for curing the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts have also been made by the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

With more deaths mounting and many societal institutions being shut down and becoming non-functional, both government and private researchers and bio-tech corporations are scrambling to produce a vaccine for the deadly disease. Many countries are already in quarantine or lockdown, causing significant adverse effects on the economy, health, and well-being of populations all over the world.

Last March 16, the phase 1 trial for a new vaccine began, when the first human volunteer recipient has been given the shot. Prior to this, Texas A&M University virologist Benjamin Neuman disclosed that no human vaccine for coronaviruses has been found to be highly successful against the disease. Thus, he said, it will take a long time to produce an effective new cure against the virus.

In a testimony at the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Texas Children's Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development co-director Peter Hotez revealed that as early as 2016, a vaccine was already developed. However, since no companies or laboratories considered a vaccine for the coronavirus to be worthwhile or essential to create, it did not reach the stage for starting a clinical trial. Similar to what Neuman said, Hotez added that a series of clinical trials would also take considerable time.

There has been news about hope for the development of an Israeli-made vaccine as revealed by IBR (Institute of Biological Research) in Israel. Ofir Akunis, Minister of Science and Technology of Israel, said it would be ready in 21 days and prepared for distribution within three months. They soon backtracked in their statement, however, with the Israeli Defence Ministry later contradicting the earlier pronouncement. It said that no breakthroughs in the institute's efforts had been made regarding any developments in creating vaccines or testing kits. Besides, they added that the work of the institute is done according to a specific work plan, and the development of vaccines and kits will take significant time.

Developments in Finding a Cure

There are several companies (listed here) that are in the process of developing or that have developed various remedies. Some examples of these drugs include Remdesivir by Gilead Sciences. It is considered by WHO officials as currently the only drug with a satisfactory efficacy.

The company Moderna has made the first tests for an experimental human vaccine starting last March 16. The tests' primary objective is to determine the safety and level of efficacy. Meanwhile, in Quebec City, a biopharmaceutical company called Medicago has reportedly produced a vaccine for COVID-19 only 20 days since it got hold of the genetic sequence of the Sars-CoV-2. The Pentagon funded Medicago's effort.

As of writing, more than 200,000 people worldwide have been infected, deaths are more than 10,000, and patients who recovered totaled to over 80,000.