NIRMAL YESODA
The coronavirus, that originated from a seafood market in Wuhan is continuing to spread chaos in all nooks of the planet. With a rising number of positive cases and deaths, the pandemic has shattered the economic balance of many countries. In the meantime, researchers at the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Russia has successfully completed the world’s first coronavirus trials on volunteers.
A milestone development by Russian researchers
Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology told Sputnik that the first group of volunteers who were part of this study will be discharged on July 15, while the second group will leave the clinical setting on July 20. It was on June 18 that researchers began the clinical trials of this experimental vaccine candidate developed by Russia’s Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
“Sechenov University in a pandemic situation acted not only as an educational institution but also as a scientific and technological research center that is able to participate in the creation of such important and complex products as drugs … We worked with this vaccine, starting with preclinical studies and protocol development, and clinical trials are currently underway,” said Tarasov.
Uncertainty surrounding coronavirus mutation capabilities
Recently, several studies conducted by international researchers had suggested that coronavirus has already mutated to more than 33 different strains, and some of them have emerged as the lethal form of the virus. The study report has shocked many medical experts, and they now believe that the entire global healthcare sector has underestimated the mutation capabilities of this pathogen.
As different strains of coronavirus have affected people in different parts of the world, medical experts strongly believe that finding an overall cure for COVID-19 will not be an easy task.
