Several developments have taken place in COVID-19 research since we published our last feature in this series.
Among them is the finding that a rheumatoid arthritis drug called tocilizumab almost halved COVID-19 mortality. This drug calms the so-called cytokine storm, which refers to a potentially fatal overreaction of the immune system. However, this drug may also increase the risk of secondary infections.
In another interesting development, scientists used cutting-edge technology to create air filters that can kill SARS-CoV-2. The innovation could help stop the new virus from spreading indoors.
However, the most promising outcomes are from the field of vaccine testing: Two new vaccines have gone through clinical trials and produced hopeful results that we detail below.
Article highlights:
Oxford vaccine trial results ‘as good as one could expect’
We have been following Prof. Sarah Gilbert and her team’s progress since April 2020, when she told The Times that she is hoping to have a vaccine ready by September. Her team’s vaccine uses a chimp adenovirus that is harmless to humans as a vector.
Since April, the vaccine has shown promise in monkeys and pigs. A couple of weeks ago, we reported that the scientists, from the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute in the United Kingdom, were recruiting participants for human trials.
Now, the results of the first phase of these clinical trials appear in the journal The Lancet. In the paper, the authors explain that this was a single-blind, randomized controlled trial that took place across five trial centers in the U.K.
The trial included a total of 1,077 healthy participants, all aged 18–55. Of the volunteers, 543 received the vaccine — known technically as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 but more commonly referred to as the Oxford vaccine, or the AstraZeneca vaccine — and 534 received a control vaccine.
All of the participants who received the Oxford vaccine developed SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies within 2 weeks. Most of them (32 out of 35) developed them after receiving a single dose.
A group of 10 participants received two doses, and in this group, all developed immune responses. In other words, this phase of the human trial confirmed what the previous trial in pigs had shown: that two doses are better than one.
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