Britain, Germany Commence Medical Trial of COVID-19 Vaccine
The governments of the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany have separately announced the commencement of medical trial for COVID-19 Vaccine.
In Britain, the first patients will receive a COVID-19 vaccine developed at the University of Oxford starting tomorrow (April 23, 2020), as the government has made £20m (around $25m) in funding available for the project
Another £22.5m is being made available to a second vaccine project at Imperial College London to support phase 2 trials and help prepare for a larger phase 3 study, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
On the other hand, Germany has also approved first clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine on humans. Biotechnology company BioNTech’s vaccine program was authorized for human clinical trials after a careful assessment of potential risks and benefits, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, German regulatory authority, said in a statement.
Turkish professor Ugur Sahin’s BioNTech company and pharma giant Pfizer are jointly developing vaccine candidates, as part of a global development program.
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In the authorized first part of the clinical trial in Germany, 200 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years will be vaccinated, according to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut.
Meanwhile, PRNigeria reports that a Nigerian professor of Pharmacognosy from the University of Nigeria Nsukka’s (UNN), Prof. Maurice Iwu recently discovered a drug for the treatment of the dreaded coronavirus will be ready as soon as the testing of the vaccine is completed.
Prof Iwu who is also the Chairman of the Imo State Taskforce on COVID-19, gave the assurance when he presented a plant-based patented treatment for COVID-19 which is presently being tested in the United States to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
“The work on the drug we are developing is still going on. We are encouraged by the result we are getting. We are getting very positive signs.”
He disclosed further “luckily the drug is a safe one. It is a drug already in use. We are repurposing it for this particular purpose. So when we finished studying and testing we are doing, I think the drug will come up in line very soon. ”
Most importantly, he added “if the pandemic escalates, the NAFDAC will know what to do, like they did in USA to fast track the use of chloroquine.
By PRNigeria
