Two Italian companies racing to develop Covid vaccine, to enter testing phase in September

In the view to curb the Coronavirus crisis, two private research laboratories outside Rome are developing potential COVID-19 vaccines. According to reports, the vaccine could be put to testing as soon as in September. The two companies-- Advent-IRBM and Takis Biotech are reportedly based in Pomezia and are among the few companies who are developing a COVID-19 vaccine. 

According to reports, the Advent-IRBM is set to start an advanced study on the potential vaccine with Jenner institute- part of the Oxford University. Reportedly, the company will be sending samples to the institute on Thursday. Further, the company's research is based on the use of adenovirus-- a mild virus that infects chimpanzees, with a genetic modification that carries part of the Coronavirus.

WHO lists three frontrunners

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed three candidate vaccines in its latest draft landscape of COVID-19 vaccines. However, Oxford's ChAdOX1 is yet to be included in the list. According to the WHO draft, out of the 70 candidate vaccines, three are leading from-- CanSino Biological Inc and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology; Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc; and Moderna Inc along with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US.

While, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is batting for a candidate Coronavirus vaccine called ChAdOX1 that is being developed by the researchers at the University of Oxford.

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The Coronavirus crisis

First detected in China's Wuhan, at present, there are around 2,637,414 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection across the globe and the disease has led to the death of around 184,204 people. In a ray of hope, around 717,625 people are also reported to have recovered.

Read: Mumbai reports 309 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths in 24 hours, city tally at 3754

Meanwhile, in India, according to the latest update of the Union Health Ministry, there are currently a total of 20,471 Coronavirus cases in the country, including 15,859 active cases. While 652 deaths have been reported overall, around 3,960 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

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Read: Graph shows the trend of India's Covid cases versus what may have been but for measures