Home Viral Vectors AAV (Adeno-associated virus) Quartet of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Head toward the Homestretch

May2020_Getty_CoronavirusVaccine (1) — A trio of distinguished experts interviewed by GEN, and two investment firms that track biopharma stocks, agreed that the four candidates showed varying degrees of promise in Phase I or Phase I/II studies to warrant interest from researchers, industry observers, and others in upcoming trials . [Getty Images]

Quartet of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Head toward the Homestretch

Haseltine, Hotez and Offit talk to GEN about the early clinical data that show some promise but also problems of candidates from AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and CanSino

By Alex Philippidis

July 22, 2020

A trio of distinguished experts interviewed by GEN, and two investment firms that track biopharma stocks, agreed that the four candidates showed varying degrees of promise in Phase I or Phase I/II studies to warrant interest from researchers, industry observers, and others in upcoming trials . [Getty Images]

Three distinguished experts interviewed by GEN, and two investment firms that track biopharma stocks, agreed that four leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates showed sufficient promise in early clinical studies to warrant interest in upcoming trials: AZD1222 by AstraZeneca, the University of Oxford, and its spinout Vaccitech; BNT162b1, the most advanced of four vaccine constructs by Pfizer and BioNTech; mRNA-1273 by Moderna; and Ad5-nCoV by CanSino Biologics . . .