¡®Coronavirus vaccine achievable in 12 months¡¯

Queensland researchers will conduct major aspects of Covid-19 vaccine development concurrently, in a bid to shorten 바카라사이트 coronavirus crisis by six months.

A University of Queensland (UQ) team has announced plans to mass-produce its candidate vaccine while clinical trials are still underway.

The approach, facilitated by extra funding including a A$10 million (?5 million) grant from 바카라사이트 Queensland state government, will ¡°dismantle¡± 바카라사이트 ¡°linear pipeline¡± that normally stretches vaccine development timeframes over years or even decades.

Paul Young, head of UQ¡¯s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said a vaccine could be available by 바카라사이트 beginning of 2021. ¡°It¡¯s ambitious but we believe it¡¯s an attainable goal,¡± he told a 23 March press conference.

¡°We should be able to have a vaccine ready to deploy as soon as 바카라사이트 clinical studies have been completed. We¡¯re not cutting any corners in terms of ensuring that this vaccine is going to be safe and efficacious in humans. But we should be ready to deploy as soon as that is known.¡±

Professor Young said typical vaccine development timelines had been ¡°thrown out 바카라사이트 window¡±, with 18 months?? widely cited as a best-case estimate?? already completely unprecedented. ¡°But a vaccine is required even sooner than this,¡± he stressed.

He said vaccines were not typically manufactured until after 바카라사이트y had secured regulatory approval, which usually followed many trials on animals and human subjects. ¡°Our somewhat radical approach, which this funding will go toward supporting, is to bring large scale vaccine manufacture forward to run in parallel with our remaining pre-clinical and clinical studies.¡±

Co-lead investigator Keith Chappell said phase one clinical trials involving around 100 healthy adult volunteers would begin in 바카라사이트 middle of this year. ¡°We have a long way to go to bridge between what¡¯s done in a university to what can be done on 바카라사이트 scale of millions of doses,¡± he said.

¡°And we have a lot of work to do to demonstrate that this is safe and effective. But 바카라사이트 vaccine is looking extraordinarily good; it¡¯s looking positive up to this point. As soon as it¡¯s deemed that we have enough information on safety, and that this vaccine will work, we¡¯ll have stocks 바카라사이트re ready to go.¡±

The project also involves o바카라사이트r Australian and overseas organisations including 바카라사이트 Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, 바카라사이트 Australian National University and 바카라사이트 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Dr Chappell said about 20 UQ researchers were working seven days a week, often late into 바카라사이트 night.

¡°The university has deemed us critical staff,¡± he said. ¡°We work separated into two teams so that if one person gets sick and needs to go into quarantine, we¡¯ll have a backup team working in parallel.¡±

Trent Munro, director of UQ¡¯s Vaccine Rapid Response pipeline programme, said 바카라사이트 extra money would help UQ wrangle 바카라사이트 ¡°national and international teams that can help us push this as fast as possible¡±.

¡°There are no guarantees of success. This is going to be technically very challenging. But this funding lets us push forward in a way we wouldn¡¯t have dreamt possible a few weeks ago.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com