Fight against Corona: Russia to begin COVID-19 vaccine trials on 40,000 people next week

Moscow, Russia: Mass testing of Russia's first potential COVID-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people and will be overseen by a foreign research body when it starts next week, backers of the project said on Thursday.

These were the first details on the shape and size of the upcoming late-stage trial of the vaccine given by its developers, who are aiming to allay concerns among some scientists about the lack of data provided by Russia so far. The vaccine, called "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has been hailed as safe and effective by Russian authorities and scientists following two months of small-scale human trials, the results of which have not been made public yet.

But Western experts have been more sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been seen to be taken and proved a success. "A range of countries is running an information war against the Russian vaccine," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that is backing the vaccine, told a briefing. The vaccine data will be published in an academic journal later this month, he said.

Russia has received requests for up to a billion doses of the vaccine from around the world and has capacity to produce 500 million doses per year via manufacturing partnerships, he said.

A director at Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, said 40,000 people would be involved in the mass testing at more than 45 medical centres around Russia.

The data is being provided to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dmitriev said, and to several countries that are considering participating in the late-stage trial, including the United Arab Emirates, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Sputnik V has already received approval from domestic regulators, leading President Vladimir Putin and other officials to name Russia the first country to license a COVID-19 vaccine.

The registration took place, however, ahead of the start of the large-scale trial, commonly known as a Phase III trial, considered by many as a necessary precursor to registration. At least four other potential COVID-19 vaccines are currently in Phase III trials globally, according to WHO records.

Corona Vaccine Race: China's latest COVID-19 phase III vaccine to be available, affordable to people worldwide

Beijing: China's vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic will be available and affordable to people worldwide, said Liu Jingzhen, chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group, in Beijing on Thursday. 

A ceremony took place in Beijing on Thursday to launch phase three clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine in Peru. Peru's national health authorities have approved the trials, the latest in China's efforts to strengthen international cooperation in pandemic control. "We launched the promotion of international clinical trials in April. So we’re making key breakthroughs in the United Arab Emirates, which have been very successful. Today, we established a cooperation relationship with Peru, and officially received the documents in all aspects, and will soon start equity participation. Up to now, the clinical phase three trials, from the experimental point of view, the layout is completely sufficient," said Liu.

Liu said that China's Biotec Group is carrying out the research with experts from some of Peru's leading universities. "In Peru, we're working with the National University of San Marcos and another university [University of Cayetano Heredia], specifically to cooperate comprehensively on the clinical phase three trials. They're two of the top universities in Peru, and their experts have been very professional across the board," said Liu.

Liu added that the vaccines will only be used after sufficient preparations and they are striving to make it available to the public worldwide. "Vaccines are to be used for prevention by healthy people. It must be accessible to the general public. According to President Xi Jinping's speech at the World Health Assembly, China's vaccines will be used as global public goods after research and development is successful, which means both available and affordable to the people worldwide," Liu said.

Liu pointed out two research and production facilities in Beijing and Wuhan, which was hit the hardest by the virus, that could ensure the supply of 200 million vaccines a year. "We have two research and production facilities in Beijing and Wuhan, which can ensure the next large-scale quantitative production, feasibility and availability of the vaccines. We are making every effort to prepare for the vaccine's mass production. According to normal daytime production speed, we can supply over 200 million vaccines a year. We can ensure the availability and mass production on the basis of the quality, safety, and effectiveness of our vaccines," said Liu.

Liu introduced that taking an injection twice with an interval of 28 days would give the best effect of the vaccines. "According to our clinical experiments, taking two injections can achieve the best effect. The best interval between the two injections is 28-days, which would ensure overall effectiveness, because, after the first injection, the antibody would increase slowly and after the second injection, the antibody increases quite fast. The two injections could guarantee the validity and could prolong the validity. So this method is best in effectiveness, which is approved by experimental data," said Liu.

Fight against Corona: COVID-19 vaccine maybe ready by the end of 2020, said experts

Experts around the world are confident in the current research and development progress of the COVID-19 vaccine, with some of them believing that a safe and efficient vaccine will be ready for production by the end of this year.

Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, and more than 170 candidate vaccines are now tracked by the World Health Organization. Among those, the promising ones are reportedly from the UK, the U.S., China, and Russia, with large-scale human tests underway in different parts of the world. Six of the vaccines have entered phase three clinical trials, the last phase in the development of a vaccine before it goes through licensure.

"I'm quite hopeful that by the end of 2020 we will have vaccines that have made it through phase trials and are ready for production. But of course between here and there is a long time, there could be things that go wrong, but the sheer number of vaccines that are entering phase three trials gives me hope that at least one will make it through and show itself to be both safe and effective in preventing COVID-19," said Megan Ranney, director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health during an TV interview on Tuesday.

Jerome Kim, director general of the International Vaccine Institute, also hopes that good signs will appear in the next three or four months, and stressed the importance of vaccine manufacture and distribution.

The WHO Manifesto for a healthy recovery from #COVID19 lists 6⃣ steps to create a healthier 💟, fairer ⚖️ & greener 🌳 world while investing to maintain & resuscitate the economy:

👉https://t.co/Ftv0KCKsMA pic.twitter.com/PBuejrb7B4

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 31, 2020

"It's very important that we have six vaccines entering phase three testing. Phase three, of course, is the stage where we show that a vaccine is both safe and effective, and that's critical. We hope that in the next four months or so, we'll get a signal, an early signal from one of these vaccines that shows that it's actually protecting people against COVID-19 infection, and that will be a very, very important step. But equally important will be being able to manufacture it and then being able to distribute it around the world and to use it to prevent infections wherever they’re occurring," said Kim.

Kim also expressed his concerns about the impact of geopolitical disputes on vaccine distribution, and called for a solution that will ensure all people can have access to the vaccine.

"The thing that concerns me the most is that we aren't coordinated. It needs to go into ensuring that when we have the vaccine, that it isn't going to be a single deal between China and Brazil or a single deal between a U.S. or European based company and a country somewhere in the world. This has to be a solution that will be available to people all over the world, big countries and small countries, rich countries and poor countries," said Kim.

Fight against Corona: Cuba to start clinical trials of potential COVID-19 vaccine

Havana, Cuba: Cuba is set to begin clinical trials next week of a potential coronavirus vaccine called 'Soberana 01' (Sovereign 01) developed by its state-run Finlay Institute, with results due in February, state-run media said on Wednesday.

The potential coronovirus vaccine will be delivered in two injections during the trials that will involve 676 people aged between 19 and 80 years and conclude on Jan. 11. The island prides itself on its biopharmaceutical industry, begun by former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, which is also an important hard currency earner and already produces several vaccines.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, told Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina that Cuba could even be one of the places it could choose to produce the vaccine from November onwards. Authorities say their treatments for the new coronavirus have already helped it reduce mortality in sufferers.

They touted interferon long before other producers started hailing the merits of the decades-old antiviral agent that boosts immune system and say dozens of countries have expressed an interest in buying it. The country of 11 million inhabitants has registered just a handful of deaths in the last few months, bringing the total to 88 deaths for 3,482 confirmed cases since the start of its outbreak in March.

Cuba has handled its outbreak in textbook fashion through contact tracing and isolation of potential asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, although cases have risen in recent weeks since it eased lockdown restrictions in the capital, prompting it to tighten them once more.

China grants country's first COVID-19 vaccine patent to CanSino

Tianjin: China's vaccine specialist CanSino Biologics Inc has won a patent approval from Beijing for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad5-nCoV, state media reported, citing documents from the country's intellectual property regulator.

It is the first COVID-19 vaccine patent granted by China, according to state-owned newspaper People's Daily. The paper cited documents published by China's National Intellectual Property Administration saying that the patent was issued on Aug. 11. A late-stage trial of a COVID-19 candidate vaccine from CanSino Biologics Inc has started in Russia, registration records showed, as the Chinese pharmaceutical firm steps up testing abroad to close in on regulatory approval.

The Ad5-nCoV vaccine already has approval for use by China's military after early and mid-stage trials, and further late-stage trials are being lined up for Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

Artificial Intelligence: Japan installs its first LED illuminated manholes with anime motifs

Tokorozawa, Japan: A Japanese city neighbouring Tokyo has spruced up its manhole covers with fans' favourite anime characters.

Since August 1, manhole covers across the city were illuminated with solar-powered LED lights in designs borrowed from popular anime television series such a "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Gundam", the city's Waterworks and Sewerage department said. The 27 designs that cover a total of 28 manholes were installed by a Japanese publishing firm and were specifically made to drum up anticipation for the November opening of the city's new entertainment complex "Tokorozawa Sakura Town". 

The designs can be found on manholes stretching from the local Higashi Tokorozawa train station and light up from 5:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. in the morning every evening. Residents such as 22-year-old Kotaro Kodaira said they made daily commutes enjoyable.

"I can look at them on the ground so the (walk) time seems shorter than before," he said. City officials said they hope the illuminated manhole covers will help minimize crime and contribute to the neighbourhood's safety at night.