PittCoVacc
(Photo : Reuters)

The first peer-reviewed vaccine that was found potentially capable of fighting COVID-19 is set to have its first phase for human trial in the next few months according to a recently published article.

Pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and researchers around the world are still in the race to develop a potential vaccine that will kill the virus and treat humans who tested positive for COVID-19. At present, there are more than 30 companies that are developing potential vaccines according to the visual capitalist.

PittCoVacc: Potential Vaccine to Cure COVID-19 Patients

Among the vaccines developed by different companies, one vaccine developed by U.S. scientists called PittCoVacc has been found to produce enough antibodies to fight COVID-19. In fact, because of its promising development, this is the first peer-reviewed vaccine around the globe.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine tested the vaccine on mice and they found out that it has produced enough antibodies that are thought to neutralize the virus within two weeks of injection.

Meanwhile, the researchers of the study are now applying for the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for phase one of its planned human clinical trials which is set to be implemented in the next few months.

If this vaccine will be approved and have positive results after three phases, this will surely help millions of people around the globe. At present, there are around more than 1 million infected individuals who are positive for COVID-19 and a death toll of more than 53 thousand. The number will continue to surge not unless a vaccine will be developed.

Many vaccines are developed around the world in an attempt to stop the deadly and infectious virus. Among these vaccines, two failed during its human clinical trials while three companies stopped to develop their COVID-19 vaccines.

However, among the vaccines developed around the world, PittCoVacc from the researchers of the University of Pittsburg is the first to be published after fellow scientists outside the institution found the vaccine to be promising.

How does the PittCoVacc work?

The vaccine has already established its safety and effectiveness after the researchers have its first human trial to skip animal testing at a lab in Seattle last month. 

Andrea Gambotto Pittsburgh School of Medicine associate professor of surgery said: "These two viruses, which are closely related to [COVID-19], teach us that a particular protein, called a spike protein, is important for inducing immunity against the virus. We knew exactly where to fight this new virus." He is referring to the viruses which are SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2014.

PittCoVacc uses lab-made pieces of viral protein to build immunity the same as the flu jab. The researchers use new drug delivery on which the vaccine looks like a fingertip-sized patch of 400 tiny microneedles that inject the protein into the skin where the immune reaction is strongest. It is also believed that this helps to increase its potency.

The fingertip-sized patch is stuck on like plaster with microneedles which are entirely made up of protein and sugar that simply dissolve to the skin.

Louis Falo, professor, chair of dermatology, and co-author of the study, said: "We developed this to build on the original scratch method used to deliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but as a high-tech version that is more efficient and reproducible patient to patient. And it's actually pretty painless - it feels kind of like Velcro."

The team of researchers also found out that the PittCoVacc maintained its potency after it was sterilized with gamma radiation which is a very important step to make sure that the vaccine is suitable for use in humans. 

Prof. Falo added: "This particular situation is different from anything we've ever seen, so we don't know how long the clinical development process will take. Recently announced revisions to the normal processes suggest we may be able to advance this faster."

If PittCoVacc will pass the phases of human clinical trials, it will surely be the end of the war against the infectious and deadly COVID-19.  

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