US researchers start human trials for coronavirus vaccine

March 17, 2020

The first human volunteer received a dose of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 in the US on Monday, in a key step in the fight against the new coronavirus responsible for the ongoing pandemic.

The new product was developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and collaborators at biotechnology company Moderna. For the first stage of human trials, the researchers aim to inject a total of 45 healthy adults with the “investigational vaccine” — dubbed mRNA-1273 — within the next six weeks in Seattle.

“Finding a safe and effective vaccine … is an urgent public health priority,” said Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the NIH.

“This Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal,” he added.

Long road to immunity

Chinese authorities first acknowledged the outbreak of the new coronavirus in late December, with the virus quickly spreading to other countries and triggering a global crisis. In January, Chinese officials shared its genetic sequence. This allowed medical teams and labs across the world to start working on a treatment.

The virus operates by binding to human cells. The new vaccine contains parts of the virus’ genetic information, but doesn’t contain the virus itself. Researchers hope the vaccine could trigger the body’s defenses and make recipients immune to the actual COVID-19 virus.

However, the NIH has repeatedly stated it would take between 12 and 18 months before all tests are complete and the vaccine is deemed safe for mass use.

Read more: Coronavirus code: Computer modeling could help fight the virus

Race to the vaccine

In addition to the Massachusetts-based Moderna, many companies and labs across the world are working on their own treatment and anti-coronavirus immunizations.

In Asia, doctors are testing an antiviral drug dubbed “remdesivir,” made by the US-based Gilead Sciences. Another US-based company, Inovio, is working on their own version of the vaccine.

Separately, German company CureVac is also developing a vaccine, and was reportedly approached by the Trump administration to create a vaccine exclusively for the US. The firm has since firmly denied those reports, saying it has not received an offer from the US government.

dj/rs (AFP, dpa)

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Researchers and their self-experiments

An oral vaccination against corona

Courage, curiosity or complete hubris? Probably it is a mixture of all these things that causes many scientists to test their own inventions on themselves first. According to the Global Times, a Chinese doctor not only developed an oral vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 but also tried it out himself. So far without side effects.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Laughing-gas party with Humphry

Scientific knowledge and private pleasure can go hand in hand. The British chemist Sir Humphry Davy experimented with nitrous oxide between 1795 and 1798. With the help of his self-experiments, he discovered not only the pain-relieving effect of the gas but also its intoxicating qualities.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Discoverer of UV radiation

The German physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter not only discovered ultraviolet radiation in 1801, but also invented the first battery the following year. Ritter was also interested in galvanism — a term applied to muscle contractions caused by electric shocks. The fact that he died at the age of 33 is said to have been due in part to the galvanic self-experiments with which he maltreated his body.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Freud on cocaine

The Austrian psychologist and doctor Sigmund Freud is known as the founder of psychoanalysis. His methods are still used, discussed and criticized today. Less well known is that Freud researched the effects of cocaine during his time as a doctor at the Vienna General Hospital. Published letters show that Freud himself consumed coke for a long time and in large quantities.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Death from yellow fever

“I believe that I am on the trail of the true pathogen,” wrote the American physician Jesse Lazear on September 8, 1900, in a letter to his wife. Lazear researched malaria and yellow fever. He confirmed that the latter is transmitted by mosquitoes. To study the disease, he intentionally allowed himself to be stung, fell ill and died 17 days after writing the letter. Lazear was only 34 years old.

Researchers and their self-experiments

The fastest man on earth

John Paul Stapp became known as the “fastest man on earth” because of his research on the effects of acceleration forces on the human body — including his own: He had himself accelerated on a so-called rocket sled up to more than 1,000 kph (621 mph) and decelerated completely in 1.4 seconds. It is the highest acceleration that a human being has ever voluntarily withstood.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Secret heart catheter

Werner Forssmann was already considered a troublemaker during his medical training. The German surgeon was determined to prove that a long, flexible catheter could be inserted safely from the crook of the arm to the heart. Although his superiors had expressly forbidden him to carry out the experiment, in 1929 Forssmann was the first person to try it out — on himself. Secretly, of course.

Researchers and their self-experiments

Nobel Prize winner — posthumously

The Canadian physician Ralph Steinman fell ill with pancreatic cancer and underwent an immunotherapy he developed himself. According to his physician, this therapy was unable to prevent Steinman’s death, but — contrary to the prognosis — could possibly have prolonged his life by over four years. Steinman died in 2011, a few days before the Nobel Prize was awarded, which he received posthumously.

Author: Julia Vergin (fs)