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 Pre-clinical testing by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO), comprising injecting ferrets with two
potential vaccines, was underway at its high-containment biosecurity
facility near Melbourne.
The first phase testing would take around three months, CSIRO's
director of health Rob Grenfell told Reuters, adding that any
resulting vaccine would not be available to the public before late
next year.
"We’re still sticking to the optimistic 18 months for delivery of
vaccine to the general consumers," Grenfell said from Melbourne in
an interview over Skype. "Now this, of course, may change. There’s a
lot of technical challenges that we’re having to go through."
Grenfell said scientists were working at a "remarkable" pace,
reaching the pre-clinical testing stage in about eight weeks, a
process that usually takes up to two years.
"So, this is the speed that’s going on at the moment."
More than 850,000 people have been infected with the novel
coronavirus across 207 countries and territories, killing more than
42,000. Australia has reported around 5,200 cases and 24 deaths.
Grenfell said he expected human trials of one of the two vaccine
candidates being tested to begin later this month or early next
month.
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CSIRO said its testing would cover both efficacy and evaluating the best way to
administer the vaccine for better protection, including an intra-muscular
injection and a nasal spray.
CSIRO was the first research organisation outside of China to successfully
develop a lab-grown version of the virus to enable pre-clinical studies on
COVID-19.
In February, it confirmed ferrets reacted to the coronavirus as they shared with
humans a particular receptor on their respiratory cells that the virus binds
itself to.
"If we can stop that virus binding to the ferret receptors in the respiratory
system, there's a very good chance it (vaccine) will work in humans," Grenfell
said.
Moderna Inc is the closest publicly known facility to human testing, announcing
plans to start a trial in Seattle last month.
The U.S. government has cut deals with both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and
is in talks with at least two other companies, to produce massive quantities of
vaccines.
Israel has begun testing a COVID-19 vaccine prototype on rodents at its
bio-chemical defense laboratory, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.
In Australia, thousands of healthcare workers last week entered a trial to see
if a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis can fight off the novel coronavirus.
(Reporting by Jill Gralow and Swati Pandey; editing by Jane Wardell)
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