Furious activity is on around the world to come up with a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. The stakes are high, not just in human life saving imperative, but also likely financial rewards to the company that is first off the block.
The active pipeline, as document by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is now 129 candidates, of which 13 have reached clinical stage, while the rest are still at pre-clinical stage.
The list of active candidates seems to be rapidly expanding. Articles in media appearing as recently as 4-5 days ago talk of 9 candidates in the clinical stage, while the WHO site now lists 13 candidates.
List of Covid 19 Vaccine Candidates: 22 June 2020
Astra Zeneca appears to be in the pole position so far. Its vaccine seems to have already started, or is in the process of starting, Phase 3 tests according to WHO site. Several Chinese companies are in the mix: Sinopharm, Sinovac, Novavax, CanSino Biological Inc and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Pfizer is the other large pharma which has a fairly advanced candidate.