New update:
It has been reported by the CPhI.CN on Aug. 18th that the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine production workshop of the Beijing Institute of Biological Products of Sinopharm Group has passed the joint biosafety inspection organized by the relevant national departments and has the conditions for use. With the price of two vaccinations being less than 1000 RMB, the protection could reach 100% according to the president of Sinopharm Group. The inactivated vaccine is expected to be marketed by the end of 2020, with the annual capacity of over 200 million.
It has been over half a year since the pandemic first outbroke in Wuhan of China. This article is to review and update what we know about treatments and vaccines development, and critical issues in the fight against the pandemic.
Until today, there is no specific treatment for disease caused by a novel coronavirus. However, many of the symptoms can be treated with existing drugs, some that showed early promise in the fight against the virus is now proved to have better clinical effect.
In April 2020, Gilead announced that the clinical study on patients with severe COVID-19 terminated early in China due to low enrollment. On July.9th, based on the research of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Gilead Sciences, Remdesivir “potently” inhibited SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 in human lung cell cultures, though it has been given to patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on a compassionate use basis since late January and through clinical trials since February, before the European Commission granted conditional marketing authorization for Veklury® (remdesivir) as a treatment for COVID-19 on July.3rd, and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) granted regulatory approval for the drug on May.7th.
On April 14th, Yiling Pharmaceutical announced that its Lianhua Qingwen capsules and Lianhua Qingwen granules was granted approval to add functional indications for the drug to be used in the treatment of the conventional treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia by State Drug Administration.
On July 1st, FDA cautions against use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for COVID-19 outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems; while WHO discontinues hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir treatment arms for COVID-19.
Treatments Came to the Surface but the Vaccine Still in Developing
Different methods have been explored by drug-manufacturers and medical product suppliers in order to successfully develop a vaccine against the virus. According to the data collected by Milken Institute for Global Health, as of May. 9th, 2020, there have been 123 COVID-19 trials in various stage in the research pipeline which created at ...
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