In addition to fast-tracking Remdesivir[1], other treatments and vaccines are being explored in Japan. Globally, on 8 May, Japan pledged the first $100 million instalment of a total $234 million to CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation) and GAVI (Vaccine Alliance).[2] The third donor pledging conference (Global Vaccine Summit 2020) will be hosted on 4 June 2020 by the UK in the hopes to gather support of $7.4 billion. More in future posts on which companies will participate in GAVI’s vaccine development, its focus on innovative financing and other Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiatives, such as the Therapeutics Accelerator.
Shionogi Pharma/UMN Pharma vaccine: On 27 April 2020, Shionogi’s subsidiary UMN Pharma announced joint research on a vaccine, alongside treatment research, with the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The plan is to begin clinical trials with the year with a manufacturing potential to deliver to 10 million patients.[3] UMN Pharma will use a Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) for developing a gene recombination protein antigen. [I am not sure how to translate in English: BEVSを活用した組換えタンパク抗原の作製].
Blood Plasma Therapy by Takeda: Blood plasma therapy takes a different approach than antivirals.[4] It takes blood plasma with antibodies from recovered donors and transfuses them to ‘kick-start’ and support the immune systems of those with severe COVID-19 complications. Takeda announced development of TAK-888 in collaboration with Biotest, BPL, CSL Behring, LFB and Octapharma in February, adapting a process trialed with Ebola, SARS and H1N1 to Sars-Cov-2. On 7 May, the company declared the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, adding ADMA Biologics, BioPharma Plasma, GC Pharma and Sanquin to the original collaborators, a rather unusual plasma industrial coalition. The Alliance will work with the US National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to test safety, tolerability and efficacy with clinical trials planned for start in summer. One of the current challenges is recruiting donors, for which support from Microsoft, Plasmabot and Uber Health has been generated.[5]
Fujifilm’s Avigan: An influenza drug (favipiravir) approved in 2014 in Japan is being trialed on 50 coronavirus patients in Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.[6] Phase III trials in Japan began early April.[7] The drug is not available in hospitals or pharmacies and is produced and distributed by Japanese government request. The company is working on increasing production and Denka is the chemical compound supplier. On 30 April 2020, Fujifilm’s Diosynth Biotechnologies announced it would reserve some manufacturing capacity in the bioreactors at Hillerød, Denmark for the Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative to speed-up the global COVID-19 response by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard.[8]
Ivermectin and ‘old’ drug repurposing: Satoshi Omura, biochemistry professor at Kitasato University and 2015 Nobel Prize Physiology/Medicine with William Campbell and Tu Youyou is promoting the use of Ivermectin (on WHO’s Essential Medicines List), which he helped to develop and was originally used for countering microorganisms in animals, later found effective in humans for parasitic infections. Ivermectin was used via humanitarian donation by manufacturer Merck in the Onchocerciasis (river blindness) Control Programme (which was one of WHO and World Bank’s first collaborations after population control) in Western African countries from 1970s to 2002. Campbell now at Monash University (Melbourne) qualified in late April that while the drug is not likely to be able to kill the virus in people at a non-toxic dosage level, it is still worth conducting research to see if it reduces viral replication speed.[9]
[1] ANNnewCH, 『レムデシビル』国内初承認・・・治療の希望と懸念（20/05/07）. 7 May 2020. <https://youtu.be/HyR4IccM42Q>. [2] ‘Japan pledges new support to Gavi’, 8 May 2020. <https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/japan-pledges-new-support-gavi>. [3] ANNnewsCH, ‘’. <https://youtu.be/YtG5iOzQCek> [4] 「新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）ワクチンの開発決定について」, 27 April 2020. <http://www.shionogi.co.jp/company/news/2020/qdv9fu000001oud3-att/200427.pdf> [5] ‘CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance Builds Strong Momentum Through Expanded Membership and Clinical Trial Collaboration’, 7 May 2020. <https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/newsreleases/2020/covig-19-plasma-alliance-builds-strong-momentum-through-expanded-membership-and-clinical-trial-collaboration/>. [6] ‘Fujifilm evaluates Avigan to treat COVID-19 in US’, 13 April 2020, Clinical Trials Arena. <https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/fujifilm-avigan-covid-19-us-trial/> [7] ‘Fujifilm commences Phase III trial of Avigan for COVID-19’, 1 April 2020, Clinical Trials Arena. <https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/fujifilm-avigan-covid-19-trial-japan/> [8] Don Ward Hackett, ‘Plasma-Derived Therapy Alliance Expands Membership’, Precision Vaccinations (13 April 2020). <https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/takeda-tak-888-anti-sars-cov-2-polyclonal-hyperimmune-immunoglobulin-therapy-has-potential-treat>; ‘FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies teams with COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator to reserve manufacturing capacity and provide technical expertise to deliver future COVID-19 therapies’, 30 April 2020. <https://fujifilmdiosynth.com/about-us/press-releases/fujifilm-diosynth-biotechnologies-teams-with-covid-19-therapeutics-accelerator/>. <https://fujifilmdiosynth.com/gene-therapy/>. Therapeutics Accelerator. <https://www.therapeuticsaccelerator.org/>. [9] Claire O’Connell, ‘Ivermectin emerges as possible treatment option for COVID-19’, 23 April 2020, Irish Times <https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/ivermectin-emerges-as-possible-treatment-option-for-covid-19-1.4228500>.
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