COVID-19 VACCINE– PIPELINE REVIEW, 2020

On March 17, Moderna Therapeutics announced that the company tested their mRNA vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus on the first patient as part of an early-stage clinical trial. In the past three weeks, many companies- big and small, have entered the fray to develop a vaccine against this growing pandemic. Many large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi have entered into partnerships to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.

• Sanofi has entered into a partnership with Translate Bio to develop a mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus.


• Johnson & Johnson joined hands with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to co-fund the research, development, and testing of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.


• Pfizer and BioNTech have partnered up to develop a mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine. 


• GlaxoSmithKline is collaborating with Xiamen Innovax Biotech and Vir Biotechnology in their pursuit to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.

As of April 13^th, more than 160 COVID-19 vaccine and treatment candidates are under research and development. Although experts believe that it will take at least 12-18 months to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it has become critical to make one available sooner due to the rapid spread of the outbreak, rising death toll, significant impact on the economy due to the lockdown, and other measures that are being taken to control the infection.

Based on the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center, there were over 1.9 million cases and around 120,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 as of 13^th April. The first COVID-19 case was reported in the U.S. on 23^rd January and the total number of confirmed cases reached over 580,000 as of 13^th April.

At present, only the following four vaccine candidates have reached the stage of human trials and hence, the associated companies can be considered as the frontrunners in the race to develop a vaccine against this outbreak.

• Moderna Therapeutic started human trials in March after an unprecedented regulatory approval to skip animal trials.


• Innovio Pharmaceuticals started testing their DNA-based vaccine in the first week of April.


• China-based CanSino Bio has started human trials for their adenovirus type-5 vector-based recombinant vaccine.


• A vaccine candidate that is presently being developed by Sinovac Biotech in collaboration with China National Pharmaceutical Group has received approval in China to start early-stage human testing.

The pipeline candidates for COVID-19 vaccine include a diverse set of technology platforms – conventional approaches as well as next-generation technologies. The technology platforms that are being evaluated are nucleic acid, virus-like particle, peptide, viral vector, recombinant protein, live attenuated virus, and inactivated virus. The next-generation approaches such as the RNA and DNA vaccines offer benefits such as development speed and ability to scale up the manufacturing/production.

At present, around 93% of the pipeline candidates for COVID-19 disease are in the preclinical phase. Pharmaceutical companies, government organizations, and other drug manufacturers have sponsored majority of the studies.

Examples of Some of the Vaccine Candidates in Preclinical Development

Report Description

The report on ‘COVID-19 Vaccine – Pipeline Review, 2020’ provides a comprehensive overview of the vaccine candidates that are in the R&D pipeline by molecule, recruitment stage, phases, platform, study type, gender, and other factors such as age group and sponsor. The report also provides a thorough analysis of the candidates by clinical trial phases, platform, company, and details such as clinical trial stage, molecule type, mechanism of action, number of recruitment, location, institution, and sponsor for every product in the pipeline.

Products in the preclinical and clinical stage along with the dormant & discontinued pipeline candidates are included in the report. The report also covers additional insights such as epidemiology overview, industry developments, comparison of COVID 19 pandemic with previous pandemics such as SARS, Influenza, and MERS, and steps taken by the government/industry for the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. The report will also throw light on the market indicators such as aging population and prevalence of chronic diseases by country/region.

The report will also provide insights on vaccine candidates that have a higher chance of success based on various factors, such as the stage of development, type, and players involved. Moreover, the report will additionally provide a comprehensive analysis of potential addressable market of these vaccine candidates in terms of value and volume.

The report on ‘COVID-19 Vaccine – Pipeline Review, 2020’, which is built by following a robust research methodology involving primary interviews and desk research, provides a complete overview of the R&D activity and pipeline products to assist companies in developing growth strategies and identifying emerging players.

Report Scope

• Thorough assessment of the pipeline products by areas such as development stage, molecule type/technology platform, phases, sponsor, and study type.


• Comprehensive profiles of the pipeline products with details such as company overview, product description, R&D status, development activities, mechanism of action, molecule type, development stage, indications, and funding and route of administration.


• An overview of dormant and discontinued pipeline products.


• Key insights in relation to the epidemiology and outbreak analysis of COVID 19 by country, comparison of COVID 19 pandemic with previous pandemics such as SARS and MERS, steps being taken by the governments to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, key industry trends, key developments, and overview of the addressable for the pipeline candidates.


• Overview of the latest developments, news articles, press releases, and relevant conferences.

Report Methodology

• All pipeline reports are built by the analysis of data primarily collected through credible desk research sources. Secondary research is supplemented by interviews conducted with key opinion leaders.


• Desk research sources include global and regional clinical trials databases, annual reports, websites, press releases & investor presentations of companies, white papers, news articles, reports published by industry associations, articles/reports published on databases such as NCBI, Research Gate, and internal databases.


• Estimation of the market size based on factors taken into consideration as below:
  
  
  
  • Treatment for COVID-19 being available versus the treatment for COVID-19 not being available.
  
  
  • Government bears the cost of the vaccine versus government does not bear the cost of the vaccine.
  
  
  • Average price per dose is similar to the currently available flu vaccines versus average price per dose is similar to the available vaccines for respiratory infections.
  
  
  
  

Reasons to Buy this Report

• Develop effective growth strategies based on comprehensive overview of the R&D activity and pipeline products for COVID-19 vaccines.


• Identify emerging players or competitions in the market based on pipeline products and develop strategies to counter the emergence of these players.


• Identify the focus of leading players in relation to R&D for COVID-19 vaccines.


• Identify potential companies from a partnership or acquisition point of view based on the current synergy in R&D activities or strategies to diversify R&D focus to drive growth in business.


• Analyse the reasons behind dormant and discontinued products to make changes in the R&D focus if necessary.