COVID-19 vaccine: current situation of when and how

We are all waiting for the new vaccine against COVID-19, but we know that it will take some time before it will be available for the global population.

The current status of developing a vaccine

Sanofi and GSK are some of the biggest players in the Vaccine business and together they have the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses. They recently announced that they are joining forces in order to develop the new vaccine based on the DNA technology (SARS-vaccine project) from Sanofi, and the Adjuvant technology from GSK. Unfortunately, they do not expect the vaccine to be available until the 2^nd half of 2021.

The American company Moderna had a modern mRNA vaccine candidate ready for initial testing by NIH (National Institutes of Health) only 42 days after the release of the COVID-19 genome by the scientists in China.

In UK, the Imperial University and Oxford University are ready with two COVID-19 vaccine candidates and prepared for Clinical Phase I trials. The Clinical Phase I trial will begin in the 2^nd half of April. They are heavily funded by the government and they hope to have an efficient vaccine ready this year already.

The CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, Oslo, Norway) organization state that more than 100 vaccine projects are moving fast in order to get a vaccine ready for the global fight against the Corona disease. WHO has registered 76 vaccine development projects whereof five projects are in Clinic Phase I already, and one Chinese project even in Clinic Phase II. (watch our previous movies about clinical phases here & here).

If we look at the different technologies used for the development of the COVID-19 vaccines, there are a lot of focus on following three main technologies:

• The ‘old’ BCG vaccine developed against Tuberculosis and still used in many countries around the world. This vaccine is a live attenuated vaccine that give a positive stimulation of the immune system. Many trials are now planned to show the efficacy against COVID-19.

• Adeno-Virus technology is a relative new technology for development of vaccines and used by e.g. the Oxford group to produce the adenovirus vaccine vector (ChAdOx1) and the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) spike protein.

• The latest technology is based on mRNA (messenger RNA that is the tool for the cell to translate the genetic code into an active protein). This technology is used by the company Moderna and a relative high number of vaccine developing companies, and it looks very promising.

Mixing technology enabling a secure and efficient manufacturing

Looking at mixing technologies, Sweden has been the frontrunner in this area for decades and still is.   

Years ago, Steridose was the leading company for the development and production of Magnetic Coupled Mixers. Then the Swedish company NovAseptic entered the market, and through their establishment they introduced the second generation of mag mixers.

As the tech development continues, we see the Swedish company Metenova as a key player in the advancement of magnetic mixing technologies – bringing state of the art innovation to Pharma companies around the world.

The world more than ever needs the development of technologies and capabilities to address the current situation, whereas key technologies such as mixing are critical. We urgently need the vaccine against COVID-19 and hope that combining knowledge, technology and capabilities can bring the vaccine to the world very soon.