Relying on research
Work at Pitt offers hope for defeating COVID-19
The methods to ultimately defeat the COVID-19 pandemic will come from the brightest minds in the best research institutions and medical laboratories around the world. It’s not surprising that among those leading the charge are dedicated researchers at the University of Pittsburgh who are at the forefront of the efforts to develop a vaccine, as well as a test for immunity.
We would expect nothing less from the world-class medical institutions that call Pittsburgh home.
A potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pitt researchers has shown early promise in tests on mice and, although early in the process, there is hope it could lead to a working vaccine.
The breakthrough is based on nearly 20 years of work and research on infectious diseases by Dr. Andrea Gambotto, an associate professor of surgery at Pitt who has spent his career developing vaccines. His work on the SARS coronavirus in 2003 and the MERS coronavirus in 2014 led his research team to a strategy for developing a potential vaccine for COVID19.
Dr. Gambotto teamed up with Dr. Louis Falo, chairman of the department of dermatology at Pitt’s School of Medicine, to develop a finger-tipsized patch of 400 tiny needles made up of the vaccine protein and sugar. The patch can be applied to the skin and the needles dissolve into it.
The researchers are applying for an “investigational new drug approval” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hope to start human clinical trials in a few months. Testing in patients typically takes a year or more, but given the urgency of the current health crisis, Dr. Falo said the process could be faster.
The vaccine development is not the only important work going on at the University of Pittsburgh in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Another group of researchers is close to completing a blood test to determine immunity against the virus that causes COVID-19.
The test is important because it could certify those at little or no risk of infection. That would be an important step in identifying people who can re-enter the workforce with little risk to themselves or others.
As with all research, these are not overnight fixes or cures, but potential solutions based on years of study and testing. And it underscores the need for continued research, with or without a pandemic in place.
“That’s why it’s important to fund vaccine research,” Dr. Gambotto said. “You never know where the next pandemic will come from.”
Whether a potential vaccine or an approved immunity test will come from the Pitt research remains to be seen, but the researchers’ work, combined with that of research teams worldwide, gives us the best hope for defeating the COVID-19 virus now and in the future.