In race for a coronavirus vaccine, an Oxford group leaps ahead

In the worldwide race for a vaccine to stop the coronavirus, the laboratory sprinting fastest is at Oxford University.

Most other teams have had to start with small clinical trials of a few hundred participants to demonstrate safety. But scientists at the university’s Jenner Institute had a head start on a vaccine, having proved in previous trials that similar inoculations — including one last year against an earlier coronavirus — were harmless to humans.

That has enabled them to leap ahead and schedule tests of their new coronavirus vaccine involving more than 6,000 people by the end of next month, hoping to show not only that it is safe but also that it works.

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The Oxford scientists now say that with an emergency approval from regulators, the first few million doses of their vaccine could be available by September — at least several months ahead of any of the other announced efforts — if it proves to be effective.

Now, they have received promising news suggesting that it might.

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Scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana last month inoculated six rhesus macaque monkeys with single doses of the Oxford vaccine. The animals were then exposed to heavy quantities of the virus that is causing the pandemic — exposure that had consistently sickened other monkeys in the lab. But more than 28 days later all six were healthy, said Vincent Munster, the researcher who conducted the test.

“The rhesus macaque is pretty much the closest thing we have to humans,” Munster said, noting that scientists were still analyzing the result. He said he expected to share it with other scientists next week and then submit it to a peer-reviewed journal.

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A Chinese company that recently started a clinical trial with 144 participants, SinoVac, has also said that its vaccine was effective in rhesus macaques. But with dozens of efforts now underway to find a vaccine, the monkey results are the latest indication that Oxford’s accelerated venture is emerging as a bellwether.

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“It is a very, very fast clinical program,” said Emilio Emini, a director of the vaccine program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is providing financial support to many competing efforts.

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Source: (Chicago Tribune) In race for a coronavirus vaccine, an Oxford group leaps ahead

I posted quite a few excerpts, as this article has a lot of content. It is not a technical read, but rather is colloquial & well organized in presenting the Oxford Trial in larger context. I recommend reading the full article, if you've got a few minutes.

So, why would I start a thread on yet another so-called "promising" vaccine? Because this vaccine is based upon one that has been previously clinically demonstrated to be safe, and there is immediate production available to produce 1M doses.

Due to the previous safety record, the vaccine has been green-lighted by the U.K. NHS for accelerated large scale human trials. 1,100 will be vaccinated immediately, 5,000 next month. And the production of 1M immediate doses will begin in September. If all goes well, of course.

Amongst others, they (Oxford) are already negotiating with North American manufacturers. But they refuse to give exclusive licensing, which apparently is what the North American companies are demanding. If this comes to fruition, let's hope these details get worked out. Apparently the U.S. exclusive licensing demands is what stopped our government from using the German WHO test, causing it to idevelop our own CDC test, which as we now know was defective, limited, and detrimental to our response.

It would be great if a vaccine can be developed and tested quickly enough to get it out fast so we can put a lid on this crisis. Godspeed.

Chomsky said:

Source: (Chicago Tribune) In race for a coronavirus vaccine, an Oxford group leaps ahead

I posted quite a few excerpts, as this article has a lot of content. It is not a technical read, but rather is colloquial & well organized in presenting the Oxford Trial in larger context. I recommend reading the full article, if you've got a few minutes.

So, why would I start a thread on yet another so-called "promising" vaccine? Because this vaccine is based upon one that has been previously clinically demonstrated to be safe, and there is immediate production available to produce 1M doses.

Due to the previous safety record, the vaccine has been green-lighted by the U.K. NHS for accelerated large scale human trials. 1,100 will be vaccinated immediately, 5,000 next month. And the production of 1M immediate doses will begin in September. If all goes well, of course.

Amongst others, they (Oxford) are already negotiating with North American manufacturers. But they refuse to give exclusive licensing, which apparently is what the North American companies are demanding. If this comes to fruition, let's hope these details get worked out. Apparently the U.S. exclusive licensing demands is what stopped our government from using the German WHO test, causing it to idevelop our own CDC test, which as we now know was defective, limited, and detrimental to our response.

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No worries, the billions being wasted by those who aren't the first to cross the finish line will be recouped from the masses by jacking up the prices of all the manufacturers' other drugs.

Ikari said:

It would be great if a vaccine can be developed and tested quickly enough to get it out fast so we can put a lid on this crisis. Godspeed.

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The key here, is:

1] The base vaccine has been proven safe, so the U.K. NHS has allowed a jump to quick accelerated large scale clinical trials immediately.

2] Production is available to produce 1M doses immediately.

But obviously, there's no guarantees of safety & efficacy beyond that which is posited to be fairly positive.

Even if not successful, the clinical data derived from the study is expected to be invaluable, since there's never been a large scale controlled study before.

Chomsky said:

Source: (Chicago Tribune) In race for a coronavirus vaccine, an Oxford group leaps ahead

I posted quite a few excerpts, as this article has a lot of content. It is not a technical read, but rather is colloquial & well organized in presenting the Oxford Trial in larger context. I recommend reading the full article, if you've got a few minutes.

So, why would I start a thread on yet another so-called "promising" vaccine? Because this vaccine is based upon one that has been previously clinically demonstrated to be safe, and there is immediate production available to produce 1M doses.

Due to the previous safety record, the vaccine has been green-lighted by the U.K. NHS for accelerated large scale human trials. 1,100 will be vaccinated immediately, 5,000 next month. And the production of 1M immediate doses will begin in September. If all goes well, of course.

Amongst others, they (Oxford) are already negotiating with North American manufacturers. But they refuse to give exclusive licensing, which apparently is what the North American companies are demanding. If this comes to fruition, let's hope these details get worked out. Apparently the U.S. exclusive licensing demands is what stopped our government from using the German WHO test, causing it to idevelop our own CDC test, which as we now know was defective, limited, and detrimental to our response.

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More good news! First New Zealand, now this!
Substantial good news too, not just hints from bar graphs. Any more today and I'll be positively giddy!

Grand Mal said:

More good news! First New Zealand, now this!
Substantial good news too, not just hints from bar graphs. Any more today and I'll be positively giddy!

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Well, I did save money by switching to Geico! :thumbs:

Better the British develop a vaccine first than the Chinese.

swing_voter said:

Better the British develop a vaccine first than the Chinese.

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at this point - it doesn't matter. I care that it is developed not by who.

Kreton said:

at this point - it doesn't matter. I care that it is developed not by who.

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If I had to pick.

I would pick the British over the Chinese.

Great news that deserves an extra prayer for God's blessings.
Once in production, we have to make sure to vaccinate those on the front lines first.

Lovebug said:

Great news that deserves an extra prayer for God's blessings.
Once in production, we have to make sure to vaccinate those on the front lines first.

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Yes, agreed. We've got to have a robust essential infrastructure, including healthcare, first responders, food & food delivery infrastructure.

I think the medically vulnerable should go first too, if the vaccine is indicated for them. I've got two elderly I'm very concerned about, along with two asthmatics.

swing_voter said:

If I had to pick.

I would pick the British over the Chinese.

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Why would it matter?

One problem: President Lysol will not act under that War Production Act to accelerate the production of the vaccine's ingredients or the syringes etc needed to administer hundreds of millions of doses. And the staggering logistics to get it all assembled & distributed to pharmacies etc. Why? Because he refuses to take any responsibility for it. He wants it to be someone else's problem to solve. Let the Brits do it.

Thank God for universities and places of higher learning.