Human trials in Australia for coronavirus vaccine Newswatch
WHO halts hydroxychloroquine tests
CANBERRA, Australia, May 26, (AP): A U.S. biotechnology company announced on Tuesday the start of human trials in Australia of a vaccine for the coronarvirus with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year.
Novavax has begun the first phase of the trial in which 131 volunteers in the cities of Melbourne and Brisbane will test the safety of the vaccine and look for early signs of the vaccine’s effectiveness, the company’s research chief Dr. Gregory Glenn said.
“We are in parallel making doses, making vaccine in anticipation that we’ll be able to show it’s working and be able to start deploying it by the end of this year,” Glenn told a virtual press conference in Melbourne from Novavax’ headquarters in Maryland.
Animal testing suggested the vaccine is effective in low doses. Novavax could manufacture at least 100 million doses this year and 1.5 billion in 2021, he said.
Manufacture of the vaccine, named NVX-CoV2373, was being scaled up with $388 million invested by Norwaybased Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations since March, Glenn said.
About a dozen experimental vaccines are in early stages of testing or poised to start, mostly in China, the U.S. and Europe. It’s not clear that any of the candidates ultimately will prove safe and effective. But many work in different ways, and are made with different technologies, increasing the odds that at least one approach might succeed.
The results of the first phase of clinical trials in Australia are expected to be known in July, Novavax said. Thousands of candidates in several countries would then become involved in a second phase.
The trial began with six volunteers being injected with the potential vaccine in Melbourne on Tuesday, said Paul Griffin, infectious disease expert with Australian collaborator Nucleus Network.
Most of the vaccine shots in the pipeline aim to train the immune system to recognize the “spike” protein that studs the coronavirus’ outer surface, priming the body to react if it ever encountered the real infection. Some candidates are made using just the genetic code for that protein, and others use a harmless virus to deliver the protein-producing information. Still other vaccine candidates are more old-fashioned, made with the killed whole virus.
Novavax adds another new kind to that list, what’s called a recombinant vaccine. Novavax used genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in giant vats of insect cells in a laboratory. Scientists extracted and purified the protein, and packaged it into virus-sized nanoparticles.
“The way we make a vaccine is we never touch the virus,” Novavax told The Associated Press last month. But ultimately, “it looks just like a virus to the immune system.”
It’s the same process that Novavax used to create a nanoparticle flu vaccine that recently passed latestage testing.A U.S. biotechnology company announced on Tuesday the start of human trials in Australia of a vaccine for the coronarvirus with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has said that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine - the anti-malarial drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking - from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date.
In a press briefing, WHO directorgeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.
“This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19,” Tedros said, adding that the drugs are approved treatments for people with malaria or autoimmune diseases. Other treatments in the trial, including the experimental drug remdesivir and an HIV combination therapy, are still being tested.
Tedros said the executive group behind WHO’s global “Solidarity” trial met on Saturday and decided to conduct a comprehensive review of all available data on hydroxychloroquine and that its use in the trial would be suspended for now.
Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said there was no indication of any safety problems with hydroxychloroquine in the WHO trial to date, but that statisticians would now analyze the information.
“We’re just acting on an abundance of caution based on the recent results of all the studies to to ensure that we can continue safely with that arm of the trial,” he said. WHO said it expected to
KUWAIT CITY:
Director General of Kuwait’s Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) Lieutenant General
Khaled Al-Mekrad inspected on Sunday firemen tasked with securing a quarantine in district of Al-Ardiya and another in AlZor, approximately 100 kilometers south of the capital.
The quarantine in Al-Ardiya is affiliated with the Ministry of Public Works and the other with Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC).
KFSD said in a statement Lieut. Gen. Al-Mekrad conveyed Eid Al-Fitr greetings from Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh
to the firemen.
The minister praised their efforts and sacrifices, serving quarantined people under extraordinary circumstances.
Lieut Gen Al-Mekrad was briefed about an emergency plan and back-up centers that provide support to the squad in accidents.
At the quarantine in Al-Zor, he was informed in details by the fire brigade chief in Al-Ahmadi
district, Colonel Ahmad AlBairmi.
The fire brigade chief, who voiced satisfaction at full preparedness at the quarantines, was accompanied during the tour by the deputy director of the combat sector, Major General Jamal AlBlaihees and the director of public relations and media, Brigadier Khalil Al-Amir. (KUNA)
KHARTOUM: Kuwait-based International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) haded over the Sudanese authorities materials to be used by health care workers dealing with the coronavirus.
Ahmad Al-Sanousi, head of IICO Office in Sudan, told KUNA Monday IICO handed over personel protective equipment for the health care workers working in quarantine facilities in Khartoum.
He added the materials included 320 PPEs, 500 gear units for surgeons and 40 boxes of face masks. (KUNA)
KUWAIT CITY:
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent a cable of condolences to Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi over the dozens of victims in the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines plane in Karachi.
His Highness the Amir prayed for God to lodge the deceased in paradise and grant patience and solace to their relatives, wishing the wounded quick recovery.
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar
cables to President Alvi. (KUNA)
KUWAIT CITY:
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent on Monday a congratulatory cable to King Abdullah II, of Jordan, on the occasion of the national day of the Kingdom.
His Highness the Amir expressed best wishes for the King and the people of the sisterly Kingdom.
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah have sent similar cables to King Abdullah II. (KUNA)
KUWAIT CITY:
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah sent on Tuesday cables to the Presidents of Argentina and Georgia, Alberto Fernandez and Salome Zurabishivili respectively, congratulating them on their countries’ national days.
His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent them similar cables. (KUNA)