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Sanofi joins hands with US govt to expedite development of coronavirus vaccine

As part of the initiative, the company said it will collaborate with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

February 19, 2020 / 03:29 PM IST

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of French pharma major Sanofi, on Wednesday said it will leverage its previous development work for a SARS vaccine to develop a potential vaccine for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease).

As part of the initiative, the company said it will collaborate with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

"Addressing a global health threat such as this newest coronavirus is going to take a collaborative effort, which is why we are working with BARDA to quickly advance a potential vaccine candidate," Global Head of Vaccines at Sanofi David Loew said in a statement.

While the company is lending its expertise where possible, it believes the collaboration with BARDA may provide the most meaningful results in protecting the public from this latest outbreak, he added.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease due to novel coronavirus.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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In late-2002, the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus emerged and then largely disappeared by 2004.

Sanofi plans to further investigate an advanced pre-clinical SARS vaccine candidate that could protect against COVID-19.

The company said it will use its recombinant DNA platform to produce a 2019 novel coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The recombinant technology produces an exact genetic match to proteins found on the surface of the virus.

"Emerging global health threats like the 2019 novel coronavirus require a rapid response," BARDA Director Rick A Bright said.

He further said: "By expanding our partnership with Sanofi Pasteur and leveraging a licensed recombinant vaccine platform, we hope to speed development of a vaccine candidate to protect against a new virus.”

In December 2019, Sanofi had also entered into an agreement with BARDA to establish facilities in the US for the sustainable production of an adjuvanted recombinant vaccine for use in the event of an influenza pandemic and based on the same technology platform that will be used for the COVID-19 programme.

So far, around 2,000 people, mainly in mainland China, have lost their lives after falling sick due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

PTI
first published: Feb 19, 2020 03:25 pm

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