Several bio-tech companies have taken the lead in world's fight against the coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic. The deadly virus that has infected over 218,000 and killed more than 8,000 worldwide, is a new strain of coronavirus, which causes illness ranging from common cold to complex diseases.
Several countries are stepping up efforts to develop a vaccine to help fight Covid-19. Here is a list of companies, striving hard to develop novel coronavirus vaccine.
Moderna
The Boston-based biotech firm started human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine, named mRNA-1273, on Tuesday, in Seattle. The 45 volunteers will be injected twice, in a gap of 28 days. Although, the trial is to test whether the vaccine causes any side-effects and it isn't to test its efficiency against the coronavirus.
CanSino Biologics
The Chinese firm has acquired permission to start human trial. The vaccine, named as Ad5-nCoV, will be tested on 108 healthy individuals, of 18-60 age group, from Wuhan--the Chinese city that served as the initial epicentre of the disease outbreak. The 108 volunteers will be divided into three groups and will be given varying doses of Ad5-nCoV.
Inovio
The company is reported to start testing its Covid-19 vaccine, named INO-4800, from April onwards. It will initiate clinical trials in US, China and South Korea. The company boasts of being able to manufacture one million doses, by the end of this year.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Clover Biopharmaceuticals
China's Clover has partnered with the British pharma company, GSK to develop the Covid-19 vaccine and put an end to the sufferings of the people around the world in recent times due to the deadly virus.
BioNTech and Pfizer
Germany's BioNTech has partnered with American Pfizer have developed mRNA based Covid-19 vaccine, named BNT162, which will enter clinical testing by the end of April. BioNTech will collaborate with Fosun Pharma, to start clinical trial of BNT162 in China.
CureVac
The European Commission has promised $85 million to German bio-tech company CureVac, that'll start testing its vaccine on humans, from June onwards.
