Thai firm set to test Covid-19 vaccine candidate on humans

By THE NATION

 

 

A Thai-French firm says its development of a vaccine for Covid-19 is at an advanced stage, with human trials set to begin in the next few weeks.

 

Bio-tech corporation BioNet-Asia is currently testing whether the candidate vaccine is effective in mice. If so, the firm will begin conducting two vaccine trials on humans, said company founder Vitoon Wonghanku. 

 

The Public Health Ministry is supervising the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, while the results of the project are being passed on to the World Health Organisation (WHO), he added.

 

The candidate vaccine was injected into mice on April 9. It will take scientists around five weeks to measure whether it has been effective, with results of the animal trial expected in May.

 

So far, between Bt100 million and Bt200 million has been invested in the project. A further 500 million to 1 billion will be spent on the next phases, including human trials and product registration.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30386842

 

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And how much is the end product going to cost , if its free for Thai will expats have to pay an arm and a leg for it ?

And so the race is on!  UK scientists from Oxford University started human trials of potential vaccine last week.  Normally to get to this stage would take at least 12 months, so I think the world is throwing plenty of money behind the research, but will not be prepared to compromise safety.  Tests on animals are one thing, but human trials are quite different.  Let us hope and pray that a vaccine is found before the end of the year ???? Keep going scientists of the world!

I'm not pessimistic, but rather realistic (referring to a global effort and not just Thailand) but vaccines don't always work for certain viruses, an example being HIV. I sincerely hope that this vaccine does in fact work, but there is a chance it won't be able to. Also, what is the science on the virus mutating and the vaccine being redundant or not? 

It will increase your Thainess to superhuman levels. Faster than a speeding on the sidewalk scooter, more powerful than a muscular lady boy in a darkened alley.. that kind of thing probably.

It's too early to tell... Once the mice have been released from lock down and returned to work, if the mouse economy recovers then I'll believe the vaccine works !!

It is not at an advanced stage when they haven't even completed trials in mice.

 

the Oxford Group is further along.

There are a massive collection of uniform wearing badge laden generals that should be offering their service to save the country and join the trial first .

 

If it doesn't work or goes wrong then nothing is lost and the country will gain????

I will definitely not volunteer....! Prayuth should go first...he's the leader!

A conspiracy post and some troll posts have been removed. 

If it gets to the stage of testing on humans, who are going to be the volunteers? More importantly where will they be located? Thailand's low covid numbers will not give a true test for catching the virus.

 

At least in the UK who have already started human trials they are giving it to volunteer frontline workers which gives a far higher risk of catching the virus to then be able to see if it actually works.

 

My opinion they should save their budget for this (spend it on testing) and instead wait to see how the UK, US and other developed countries progress.

Plenty of immigrant

15 hours ago, Sheryl said:

It is not at an advanced stage when they haven't even completed trials in mice.

Just skip the trials in mice

15 hours ago, Sheryl said:

It is not at an advanced stage when they haven't even completed trials in mice.

 

the Oxford Group is further along.

I believe the Germans are even further along (the ones Trump wanted to buy up and was thankfully refused). They are going to do trials too but they are far more cautious in what they bring out and say.

15 hours ago, Sheryl said:

It is not at an advanced stage when they haven't even completed trials in mice.

 

the Oxford Group is further along.

I guess for Thailand it's considered advanced but remember they have the French holding the hands.

Everybody and his brother is in the race to create a vaccine.  According to below 23 Apr news article there are at least 120 projects underway around the world....but only 5 have reached the point of receiving approval to conduct clinical trials on humans.

 

http://www.rfi.fr/en/science-and-technology/20200423-human-trials-begin-in-worldwide-race-to-develop-covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-study-france-uk-germany

 

Quote

Although at least 120 projects around the world are working towards a vaccine, just 5 clinical trials on humans have so far been approved.

 

"A Thai-French firm says its development of a vaccine for Covid-19 is at an advanced stage ..... currently testing whether the candidate vaccine is effective vaccine in mice."

Not yet even shown effective with mice would challenge the candidate testing being now at "an advanced stage." What was the preliminary stage - it didn't kill ants?

To me an advanced stage is when the candidate vaccine is effective at least with a small random HUMAN test group, then moving to large scale test groups for statistical clinical confirmation for effectiveness. 

 

3 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

"A Thai-French firm says its development of a vaccine for Covid-19 is at an advanced stage ..... currently testing whether the candidate vaccine is effective vaccine in mice."

Not yet even shown effective with mice would challenge the candidate testing being now at "an advanced stage." What was the preliminary stage - it didn't kill ants?

To me an advanced stage is when the candidate vaccine is effective at least with a small random HUMAN test group, then moving to large scale test groups for statistical clinical confirmation for effectiveness. 

 

Since the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) news writers don't have any tourism now or near term to over-hype (i.e., 10 billion-trillion tourists expected this year), maybe some laid off TAT news writers wrote this press release.

17 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

And so the race is on!  UK scientists from Oxford University started human trials of potential vaccine last week.  Normally to get to this stage would take at least 12 months, so I think the world is throwing plenty of money behind the research, but will not be prepared to compromise safety.  Tests on animals are one thing, but human trials are quite different.  Let us hope and pray that a vaccine is found before the end of the year ???? Keep going scientists of the world!

Seems to me 99.9% of developers will be careful about safety but will also be very/manically  focused on being first to get a medication on the market.  

18 hours ago, webfact said:

A Thai-French firm says its development of a vaccine for Covid-19 is at an advanced stage

Sounds promising. The cautious, down-to-Earth humility of the French combined with the efficiency and world-class education of the Thais.

16 hours ago, fondue zoo said:

It will increase your Thainess to superhuman levels. Faster than a speeding on the sidewalk scooter, more powerful than a muscular lady boy in a darkened alley.. that kind of thing probably.

The regional hub of vaccines 4.0

quote:-

"will begin conducting two vaccine trials on humans"

May I ask "what humans"???

18 hours ago, keith101 said:

And how much is the end product going to cost , if its free for Thai will expats have to pay an arm and a leg for it ?

Throw in your kidneys & liver too... 

1 hour ago, spiekerjozef said:

Just skip the trials in mice

Just skip trials period. They cured Ebola as soon as they learned to spell it.

As for volunteers: why not, what could possibly go wrong?

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

"A Thai-French firm says its development of a vaccine for Covid-19 is at an advanced stage ..... currently testing whether the candidate vaccine is effective vaccine in mice."

Not yet even shown effective with mice would challenge the candidate testing being now at "an advanced stage." What was the preliminary stage - it didn't kill ants?

To me an advanced stage is when the candidate vaccine is effective at least with a small random HUMAN test group, then moving to large scale test groups for statistical clinical confirmation for effectiveness. 

 

 

Indeed it is in fact in very early stages.

 

The Oxford Group's vaccine has completed trials in rhesus monkeys (much more silmilar to himans than mice) showing effectiveness and begun human trials.

 

There is one in China reportedly at same stage.

 

Note that none of the lead groups work im isolation or solely in their own country. The Oxford Group's trials ate collaborating with the US NIH and their trials include US subjects as well as UK. The Thai-French group, if their vaccine gets that far, would likewise have international collaborators.

 

This is science. It doesn't have borders. Unfortunate that those issuing press releases don't understand that, or choose to ignore it.

 

Anyone doing human  trials will need to do them with populations in areas which still have large amount of transmission....like New York City which is still seeing over 5,000 new cases daily.

 

 

 

 

They have been injecting humans in at least a phase one trial for over a month in the US.  

 

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins

 

And I don't think the US was technically the first to do it.

A troll post has been removed. 

There seems little point in trialing a vaccine in Thailand.  If the numbers of cases is as low as reported, it would be difficult to know if it protected volunteers from infection or not. I would think a country where the virus is raging would be a better choice.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:00 PM, keith101 said:

And how much is the end product going to cost , if its free for Thai will expats have to pay an arm and a leg for it ?

 

Perhaps worth thinking twice before rolling up our sleeves for potentially dodgy shots that have been rushed to market. As the old saying goes, "Act in haste. . . "

 

It usually takes a couple of years to properly develop and test a vaccine intended for use on human populations. By which time, unless it is an exception to the pandemic rule, COVID 19 should be out of our hair for good.

 

The big question we all  need to ask ourselves is if we are prepared to submit to compulsory shots as part of the global "pandemic protection" plan. This is being demanded by vax "king" Bill Gates, backed by the WHO -  of which the philanthro-capitalist just happens to be the biggest funder.

 

 

7 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I guess for Thailand it's considered advanced but remember they have the French holding the hands.

Oh yeah, THAT's a big plus!

(sarcasm applied)

8 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

If it gets to the stage of testing on humans, who are going to be the volunteers? More importantly where will they be located? Thailand's low covid numbers will not give a true test for catching the virus.

 

At least in the UK who have already started human trials they are giving it to volunteer frontline workers which gives a far higher risk of catching the virus to then be able to see if it actually works.

 

My opinion they should save their budget for this (spend it on testing) and instead wait to see how the UK, US and other developed countries progress.

 

testing on humans has already started in the uk with no shortage of volunteers, they have been given the vaccine, or a placebo, and returned to normal life whilst being monitored by the doctors/researchers.