scholarly journals PROSPECTS OF SARS-CoV-2 VACCINES AND THEIR LANDSCAPE

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Spl-1-SARS-CoV-2) ◽  
pp. S246-S263
Author(s):  
Bharti Kotarya ◽  
◽  
Abhishek Pandeya ◽  
Raj Kumar Khalko ◽  
Anup Mishra ◽  
...  

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus -2 (SARS-CoV-2), puzzled the whole world with its diverse, unique clinical spectrum, and unprecedented transmission dynamics. The disease caused by this virus is named as Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), reported first time in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It had spread to almost all countries of the world disrupting the health and economy of many countries. It was the recent zoonotic spillover disease reported in humans from the Coronavirus group, without proper medicine and non-existence of prior immunity, this disease posed a challenge to both the scientific and medical fraternity. The search for safe, effective drugs to treat the disease and vaccines against the causative agent SARS- CoV-2 had begun all over the world with public and private partnerships. Many countries are part of the solidarity trail for identifying the effective drugs, clinical trials and vaccines for this global pandemic. Here in this review, we are focussing on the different vaccine production platforms being used in the preparation of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, their current status and prospects. Vaccine production technology significantly advanced in recent times by imbibing the cutting edge technologies such as nucleic acid based technologies such as DNA/RNA/Codon deoptimization and availability of safe and effective viral vectors produced through rDNA technology. The availability of complete genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2, geared up for the production of vaccine candidates based on these new vaccine production platforms, and in a record time of 4-5 months, these vaccine candidates entered in human clinical trials for the evaluation of safety and efficacy. Prior knowledge on SARS and MERS-CoV’s structural and genomic features, vaccine production platforms used in making vaccines against them greatly augmented in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efforts. As per World Health Organization (WHO) a total of202 vaccine candidates are under developing for SARS-CoV-2, among them 47 entered in clinical trials and 156 are in the preclinical stage. These vaccines are prepared by an amalgamation of both new and old traditional vaccine production platforms such as nucleic acid base platforms, inactivated, live attenuated, recombinant viral vectors, protein and peptide-based vaccines. The success of these vaccine candidates lies in the generation of effective immune response for SARS-CoV-2 across all age groups and people with co-morbidities. We briefly summarize the different strategies of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine production and their prospects with an emphasis on different routes of administration and added a basic mathematical model depicting the importance of vaccination for any pandemic.

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bikash Debnath ◽  
Waikhom Somraj Singh ◽  
Kuntal Manna

: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first outbreak in Wuhan, China, and the infection is intense worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed total deaths had noted 4.20% globally (March 21, 2020). Between the intervals of four months (July 21, 2020), confirmed total deaths had recorded 4.17%, globally. In India, 909 confirmed cases and 19 deaths were reported by Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, March 28, 2020. Between the intervals of 123 days In India, 1638870 confirmed cases and 35684 deaths. COVID-19 can potentially spread from person to person through direct contact or respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. The most common symptoms are fever, dry cough, difficulty in breathing, and fatigue. A pregnant mother with COVID-19 has fewer chances to transfer this infection of her newborn babies. Children have less affected than an adult. A specific antiviral drug or vaccine has not been developed to cure the disease. Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir, nafamostat, nitazoxanide, and remdesivir have effective drugs to treat COVID-19. Many vaccine candidates are under pre-clinical and clinical studies. In this review, we highlight the epidemiology, sign-symptoms, pathogenesis, mode of transmission, and effects of a pregnant mother with newborns, children, prevention, and drugs affective to COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Pereira Cabral ◽  
Luiza Braga ◽  
Fabio Mota

BACKGROUND The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents a great public health challenge around the world, especially given the urgency to identify effective drugs and develop a vaccine in a short period of time. Globally, there are several drug and vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials, yet it is not yet clear which will prove successful. OBJECTIVE This study addresses this gap by mapping the treatments and vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials and assessing the opinions on these candidates of virus-related researchers from all over the world. METHODS Clinical trial data were obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov and the survey’s respondents were authors of recent scientific publications related to viruses, SARS virus, coronavirus, and COVID-19 indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. RESULTS The results show that remdesivir, immunoglobulin from cured patients and plasma are considered the most promising treatments, and ChAdOx1 and mRNA-1273 the most promising vaccine candidates. They also indicate that a vaccine could be available within eighteen months. CONCLUSIONS Changes in the clinical trial process are currently being implemented worldwide in an attempt to accelerate the discovery of an entirely new vaccine to prevent COVID-19 8. These changes may be why the respondents felt it would take such a short time to develop a vaccine. Despite the relatively high percentage of unknown answers, which may be linked to the short-term perspective of this survey and the current uncertainties surrounding the subject at hand, the results of this survey suggest that the efforts made so far to accelerate the discovery of a new vaccine are in line with its purpose. If these expectations are confirmed, perhaps the discovery that will bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic is not so very far away


Coronaviruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayushi Mahajan ◽  
Lakhvir Kaur ◽  
Gurjeet Singh ◽  
RK Dhawan ◽  
Lovepreet Singh ◽  
...  

: The year 2020 was the most challenging period for all due to the havoc caused by the outbreak of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Scientists and researchers all around the world have endeavored every possible approach to find solutions in context to therapeutics and vaccines to control the spread of this life-threatening virus. The acceleration instigated by the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutated strains has leveraged the use of numerous platform technologies for the development of vaccines against this unfathomable disease. Vaccines could play an important role in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 and reducing the ongoing health crisis. Various innovative platforms like proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, and viral vectors have been exploited to fabricate vaccines depicting almost 90% of efficacy like BNT162b2, AZD1222, Ad5-nCoV, etc. Some of these vaccines are multipotent and have shown potent activity against newly emerged malicious strains of SARS-CoV-2 like B.1.351andB.1.1.7. In this review article, we have gathered key findings from various sources of recently popularized vaccine candidates which will provide an overview of potential vaccine candidates against this virus and will help the researchers to investigate possible ways to annihilate this menace and design new moieties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeyanthi Venkadapathi ◽  
Venkat Kumar Govindarajan ◽  
Saravanan Sekaran ◽  
Santhi Venkatapathy

The COVID-19 is affecting thousands of peoples day by day and continues to spread across the world. The present review has focused on promising repurposing drugs, including remdesivir, lopinvar/retinovar, favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Besides, our review has also focused on many organizations that are in the race to develop vaccines using various approaches including DNA, RNA, viral vectors and subunit proteins against this highly contagious respiratory disease. The spike protein is being studied by scientists all over the world to develop potential vaccines. The antiviral drugs, antibodies and vaccines developed by various researchers around the world have entered clinical trials in humans. The current clinical trials for antiviral agents and vaccines with promising outcomes are being discussed. So far, four vaccines developed by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and two AstraZeneca vaccines (produced by SKBio in the Republic of Korea and Serum Institute of India) are approved by the World Health Organization for public use.


2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 916-920
Author(s):  
L Y Shaydullina ◽  
L E Ziganshina

The review covers the history of Clinical Pharmacology discipline origin from the thirties of the twentieth century until now. Establishment of the research group on clinical pharmacology by the World Health Organization in 1969 is surveyed. The current status of clinical pharmacology in Russia is described with emphasis on potential impact of the discipline on health system in the rational use of medicines and access to medicines. The connection between clinical pharmacology development and pharmaceutical regulation and «thalidomide tragedy» of the sixties is traced. The main developing sections of the discipline of Clinical Pharmacology: pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenetics, pharmacovigilance and drug clinical trials are presented. The objectives and phases of clinical trials, the current problems of their conduction - global and Russian - are presented. Perspectives for the clinical pharmacology development using the evidence-based medicine approach are reviewed. Review reveals the multidisciplinary nature of clinical pharmacology, its bridging role between the fundamental and practical clinical disciplines, and a close connection with the development of healthcare system. Problems of clinical pharmacologists’ training and employment are discussed. The review presents the current status and development of the discipline in different countries and in the Russian Federation with reference to the federal regulations and laws. The potential of clinical pharmacology as a research, teaching and practicing medical discipline allowing the healthcare system to ensure the rational use of medicines providing drug efficiency, safety and affordability for the population is described. The results of the own authors’ research of the impact of clinical pharmacology services introduction in the practice of internal diseases departments of Kazan municipal hospitals on the outcome of coronary heart disease are presented with consideration of the various confounding factors. Review explains the need for wide use of clinical pharmacology potentials on all levels of healthcare system, particularly for administrative decision-making


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kush K. Maheshwari ◽  
Debasish Bandyopadhyay

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect a huge population of the world and majority of the victims belong to the poor community of the developing countries. Until now, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 20 tropical diseases as NTDs that must be addressed with high priority. However, many heterocyclic scaffolds have demonstrated potent therapeutic activity against several NTDs. Objective: There are three major objectives: (1) To discuss the causes, symptoms, and current status of all the 20 NTDs; (2) To explore the available heterocyclic drugs, and their mechanism of actions (if known) that are being used to treat NTDs; (3) To develop general awareness on NTDs among the medicinal/health research community and beyond. Methods: The 20 NTDs have been discussed according to their alphabetic orders along with the possible heterocyclic remedies. Current status of treatment with an emphasis on the heterocyclic drugs (commercially available and investigational) has been outlined. In addition, brief discussion of the impacts of NTDs on socio-economic condition is included. Results: NTDs are often difficult to diagnose and the problem is worsened by the unhealthy hygiene, improper awareness, and inadequate healthcare in the developing countries where these diseases primarily affect poor people. The statistics include duration of suffering, numbers affected, and access to healthcare and medication. The mechanism of actions of various heterocyclic drugs, if reported, have been briefly summarized. Conclusion: Scientists and pharmaceutical corporations should allocate more resources to reveal the in-depth mechanism of actions of many heterocyclic drugs that are currently being used for the treatment of NTDs. Analysis of current heterocyclic compounds and development of new medications can help in the fight to reduce/remove the devastating effects of NTDs. An opinion-based concise review has been presented. Based on available literature, this is the first effect to present all the 20 NTDs and related heterocyclic compounds under the same umbrella.


Author(s):  
Afsaneh Noormandi ◽  
Mohammad Fathalipour ◽  
Reza Daryabeygi-Khotbehsara ◽  
Soheil Hassanipour

Background and objective: COVID-19 has since been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), infecting millions worldwide. The use of Interferon (INF) subtypes previously examined in the treatment of SARS and MERS is also being initiated in some clinical trials. Although different clinical trials were evaluated IFNs in the treatment of COVID-19, their efficacy and safety remain unknown. Therefore, this study aims to systematically assess IFNs efficacy and safety in treating patients with COVID-19. Methods: The protocol has been registered in the PROSPERO International Prospective Register (CRD42020200643) on 24 July 2020. This protocol has been arranged according to the PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols) 2015 checklist. Discussion: Due to lack of approved medication for the covid-19 treatment and also various mutations of this virus, evaluated the efficacy and safety of medications by various studies could help for finding treatments with high effectiveness. IFNs are one of the medications that have been administered in covid-19 infection.  Moreover, the best time of administration and dose of this medication was unknown. Although meta-analysis is a potent source for assessing the accuracy of subjects, heterogeneity of articles is a potent limitation of our work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safaet Alam ◽  
Taslima Binte Kamal ◽  
Md. Moklesur Rahman Sarker ◽  
Jin-Rong Zhou ◽  
S. M. Abdur Rahman ◽  
...  

COVID-19, transmitted by SARS-CoV-2, is one of the most serious pandemic situations in the history of mankind, and has already infected a huge population across the globe. This horrendously contagious viral outbreak was first identified in China and within a very short time it affected the world's health, transport, economic, and academic sectors. Despite the recent approval of a few anti-COVID-19 vaccines, their unavailability and insufficiency along with the lack of other potential therapeutic options are continuing to worsen the situation, with valuable lives continuing to be lost. In this situation, researchers across the globe are focusing on repurposing prospective drugs and prophylaxis such as favipiravir, remdesivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, lopinavir-ritonavir, azithromycin, doxycycline, ACEIs/ARBs, rivaroxaban, and protease inhibitors, which were preliminarily based on in vitro and in vivo pharmacological and toxicological study reports followed by clinical applications. Based on available preliminary data derived from limited clinical trials, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and USFDA also recommended a few drugs to be repurposed i.e., hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, and favipiravir. However, World Health Organization later recommended against the use of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, and lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of COVID-19 infections. Combining basic knowledge of viral pathogenesis and pharmacodynamics of drug molecules as well as in silico approaches, many drug candidates have been investigated in clinical trials, some of which have been proven to be partially effective against COVID-19, and many of the other drugs are currently under extensive screening. The repurposing of prospective drug candidates from different stages of evaluation can be a handy wellspring in COVID-19 management and treatment along with approved anti-COVID-19 vaccines. This review article combined the information from completed clinical trials, case series, cohort studies, meta-analyses, and retrospective studies to focus on the current status of repurposing drugs in 2021.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 1025-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Black ◽  
Kathryn Hyer

In 2006, the World Health Organization initiated an international movement to enhance active aging and the age-friendliness of communities by focusing efforts on the built, social, and service environment. The global model requires soliciting older adults’ preferences regarding community features although findings are typically aggregated across all aged respondents despite mounting distinctions between the generations. This study aimed to examine the differential salience of community features by older generational age groups including Baby Boomers ( n = 639) and Silent and Government or General Issued (GI) Generation ( n = 488) in an age-friendly community in which more than half of its residents are age 50 or older. Chi-square results indicate significant differences across the generational age groups in all domains with the greatest distinctions pertaining to preferences in housing, outdoor spaces, employment, and participation in varied social activities. The perceptions expressed by Boomer-aged adults portend implications ahead for multiple sectors and features of community life.


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