South Africa is one of 10 countries involved in an urgent global trial announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to identify the most effective treatment for coronavirus. According to a Sunday Times report, the leader of South Africa's effort is Professor Helen Rees, head of the Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute and chair of the WHO's immunisation advisory group for Africa. She played a major role in the fight against Ebola.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that "multiple small trials with different methodologies may not give us the clear, strong evidence we need about which treatments help to save lives". But the international solidarity trial, which will compare the efficacy of existing drugs, "is designed to generate the robust data we need".
Rees is quoted in the report as saying that the WHO is aiming for "global core protocols so that we get many clinical trials under way with centralised databases and co-ordination so that we can get answers as quickly as possible".
The report says eight South African health sciences faculties are involved, and the work will involve many of the country's senior clinicians and researchers across specialities such as infectious diseases and intensive care. "We are in discussion with WHO for a randomised trial – a five-arm study where four different treatment options are evaluated against standard of care. We are looking at antivirals, including one new product," said Rees.
"The second core global protocol South Africa is talking about is pre-exposure prophylaxis for health-care workers, in other words looking at drugs that might protect health-care workers, or at least give them a less severe disease."
Rees said the Southern African Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs Association and "all the ethics committees are urgently reviewing potential therapeutics so that there are no regulatory delays".
Canadian biotechnology company, Medicago has announced it successfully produced virus-like particles (VLP) of the coronavirus in just 20 days using proprietary plant-based technology. IoL reports that according to the company, the production of the VLP is the first step in developing a vaccine for COVID-19, which will undergo pre-clinical testing for safety and efficacy.
It said it did so successfully after obtaining the SARS-CoV-2 gene, which is the virus causing the COVID-19 disease. Once this is completed, Medicago experts will discuss with the appropriate health agencies to initiate human trials of the vaccine by July/August.
The report quotes Medicago as saying it is also using its technology platform to develop antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in collaboration with the Laval University’s infectious disease research centre, headed by Gary Kobinger, who helped develop a vaccine and treatment for Ebola.
The SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could potentially be used to treat people infected by the virus. The research is being funded, in part, by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2020-03-22-sa-part-of-worldwide-who-trial-to-identify-effective-covid-19-treatment/"]Full Sunday Times report[/link]
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/covid-19-canadian-biotech-company-announces-progress-in-developing-a-vaccine-45435507"]Full IoL report[/link]