COVID-19 Vaccine Research
NIH clinical trial of investigational vaccine for COVID-19 begins
The National Institutes of Health has begun enrolling healthy adult volunteers to receive an investigational COVID-19 vaccine. The study is investigating the proper dosage and efficacy of the new vaccine. The vaccine is an mRNA vaccine that elicits an immune response by directing the hosts’ cells to express an anti-viral protein. This is the first human trial of the vaccine as it has already shown promise in animal models. The trial is set to last six weeks.
Live virus used to identify 30 existing drugs that could successfully treat COVID-19
Researchers at several universities, including the University of Hong Kong and UCLA, have identified 30 existing drugs that stop the replication of the coronavirus that are not already being tested. The drugs identified have already been proved to be safe in humans, meaning they have gone through the research circuit of animal testing to human clinical trials. The existing drugs were found to be effective using screening libraries and techniques like polymerase chain reaction and cell cultures. These drugs will continue to undergo testing. Several will be tested in animals for dosing information before moving onto clinical trials.