Rome: Italian scientists said Wednesday that they have successfully developed a vaccine that can help contain the coronavirus that causes the dreaded COVID-19 disease. A report has said that the new vaccine will help in containing coronavirus that have spread rapidly across the globe. So far more than 2,54,000 people have fallen victim to COVID-19.
The development comes just a day after Israeli scientists claimed Tuesday that they have developed an antibody to the fight the COVID-19 pandemic. It certainly is good news for the world which has been ravaged by the deadly disease.
Tests conducted on mice showed that the vaccine has antibodies that work on human cells. These block the virus from infecting people. The team of researchers further said that all the five vaccine candidates generated a large number of antibodies. The two with the best results were selected.
The new vaccine has been developed by researchers at Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases here. It could one of the major discoveries and bring some relief to the world ravaged by the respiratory illness. Hundreds of vaccines are being tested across the world, but so far nothing concrete has emerged. In that context, the Italian discovery is a huge breakthrough indeed.
Luigi Aurisicchio, CEO of Takis, the firm developing the medication, said the vaccine has neutralised coronavirus in human cells for the first time according to ‘Arab News.
“This is the most advanced stage of testing of a candidate vaccine created in Italy. Human tests are expected after this summer,” Italian news agency ‘ANSA’ quoted Aurisicchio as saying.
Aurisicchio said that the vaccine has antibodies generated in mice. These antibodies later worked on human cells too, he said.
“As far as we know we are the first in the world so far to have demonstrated neutralisation of the coronavirus by a vaccine. We expect this to happen in humans too,” Aurisicchio added. The research team meanwhile said they will conduct human trials of the vaccine after summer.
Agencies
