A vaccine to treat Covid-19 is in the process of being tested by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and biotechnology company BioNTech. It has sho...
A vaccine to treat Covid-19 is in the process of being tested by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and biotechnology company BioNTech. It has shown immune responses in healthy patients. But it also causes fever and other side effects, especially in high doses.
The first clinical data on this vaccine was disclosed in a document on the MedRXiv website on Wednesday (July 1).
The Pfizer study randomly assigned 45 patients to choose one of three doses of vaccine or placebo (placebo).
Of these, 12 used a 10 μg dose, 12 used a 30 μg dose, 12 used a 100 μg dose, and the remaining 9 used a placebo. After the first dose, patients will be given a second dose 3 weeks later.
Results showed that the dose of 100 μg caused fever in half of the patients. Therefore, patients who tested this dose were not given the 2nd dose.
After the second injection, 8.3% of patients in the 10 μg group and 75% of the patients in the 30 μg group had fever. More than half of patients who received one of these doses reported an adverse side effect, including fever and trouble sleeping. There are no serious side effects. This means that it does not lead to hospitalization or debilitation and does not threaten the patient's life.
The vaccine produces antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes Covid-19 - and these antibodies are neutralized, meaning they seem to stop the virus from working. Neutralizing antibody levels were 1.8-2.8 times that of patients who recovered.
It is unlikely that higher antibody levels will help immunity to the virus. To prove it, Pfizer will need to conduct large-scale studies with the aim of proving: People who have been vaccinated have a chance of contracting Covid-19 by at least 50% reduction. These studies are expected to begin this summer. Much of the research is in the US. Pfizer is testing 4 different versions of this vaccine. But only one of these types of research is conducted on a larger scale.
The current study did not include pregnant women and no other information on the ethnic diversity of the participants was noted. Although the literature does say that future research will need to include a more diverse group.
There are currently 14 types of Covid-19 vaccines being tested in humans, according to the Milken Institute. It includes vaccines from Inovio, CanSino, AstraZeneca and Moderna. More vaccines are expected to start testing soon. Includes vaccines from Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi. A total of 178 vaccines are in different stages of development.
Reference from CNBC
