Russia's Battle against COVID-19 - How is the Country Faring on the Vaccine Front?

Summary

• Russia is amongst the worst-hit countries with the fourth-highest number of cases in the world. While the number of daily cases has gone down, the threat remains.
• Gamaleya Research Institute developed COVID-19 vaccine completed Phase 1 clinical trial and is under 25 vaccine candidates listed by the WHO.
• RDIF, Sistema & the Gamaleya National Research Institute agree on the mass production of Russia's first COVID-19 vaccine.
• According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russian GDP is to tumble by 6.6% in 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis.
• Russia’s second potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Siberian Vector institute is set to begin clinical trials.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been over 15.78 confirmed COVID-19 cases across the globe, including 640,016 deaths (as of 2:34 PM CEST on 26 July 2020).

Russia has the fourth-most COVID-19 cases in the world, with 812,485 confirmed cases of coronavirus and nearly 13,269 deaths from 31 January 2020 to 26 July 2020 (2:34 PM CEST) as reported to the WHO.

While still in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian government has relaxed the norm and citizens are not stringently following the social distancing guidelines. However, the country is increasing the number of tests for detection of COVID-19. Russia is also fast-tracking the development of a vaccine for the pandemic.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Tumbles Russian Economy

As several nations around the world confront the worst collective economic loss since the Great Depression, Russia appears to be particularly hit hard by the twin blows of the COVID-19 pandemic and the downfall in oil prices. The world’s largest country, by area, depends on taxes from the oil & gas segment for ~40% of its budget. Moreover, many small businesses in the country are going belly up.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russian GDP is predicted to fall by 6.6% in 2020 due to the declining oil prices and financial market volatility and the economic downturn is likely to be more severe than previously anticipated.

The country has its hope on the fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccine development to stop the spread of the coronavirus and to reverse the damage to the economy.

Let us shed some light on the COVID-19 vaccine development in Russia-

The Russian vaccine is one of 25 vaccines candidates listed by the WHO under clinical development (as per 24 July Draft Landscape). Also, 141 investigational vaccine candidates are in preclinical stage.

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Sechenov University in Russia has been making a substantial contribution to the fight against coronavirus infection and providing 2k beds in its clinics, having already admitted almost 6,000 patients during the COVID-19 turmoil. Moreover, Sechenov University is also the main site of the human trial of the most promising vaccine developed in Russia by Gamaleya Institute.

According to some media sources, Russian scientists stated that they are looking to launch COVID-19 vaccine by mid-August and the country is likely to provide "a small amount" of the vaccine to people during August. Notably, Russia has fast-tracked vaccine development which has been successful in its early phases of clinical trials.

Moreover, Russia is in talks with Saudi Arabia to conduct COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

Gamaleya Research Institute-developed COVID-19 Vaccine in Russia, Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial Ongoing

The Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology developed its COVID-19 vaccine candidate under the Russian Federation Health Ministry. The vaccine developed by Gamaleya Research Institute is a Non-Replicating Viral Vector, Adeno-based vaccine that is a combination of two genetically engineered adenoviruses- Ad 26 and Ad 5. Both the adenoviruses carry the SARS-CoV-2 spike gene.

As per media sources, Phase 1 studies to prove the candidate’s safety have been completed, and Phase 2 trial is already underway evaluating the efficacy of the candidate.

After the successful completion of Phase 2, the human trial would move into Phase 3 to determine the efficacy of the vaccine on several subjects before the vaccine comes in the market.

RDIF, Sistema & the Gamaleya National Research Institute Agree on Mass Production of Russia's First COVID-19 Vaccine

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Sistema PJSFC and the Gamaleya National Research Institute have agreed to collaborate to organise a manufacturing site for the large-scale production of the first COVID-19 vaccine at the Alium plant in the Moscow region for the prevention of coronavirus infection in Russia.

After the completion of clinical trials of the vaccine, RDIF and Alium are ready to start mass-production for the fastest possible vaccination of citizens of Russia. The launch of mass manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected by autumn-2020 in the country.

As per the information provided by Reuters, Russia intends to manufacture nearly 30 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine nationally this year, with the possibility to produce an additional 170 million overseas.

Russia Set to Commence Clinical trials for Second COVID-19 vaccine

The clinical trials of the second potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed by the Siberian Vector institute in Russia, are expected to begin on 27 July 2020, as per information provided by Reuters.

Despite still being in early-stage development (according to the WHO data), Russia believes it can roll out a vaccine by the end of the year and is likely to fast-track the clinical trials and approval process to meet the deadline. Since it takes a considerable amount of time for a vaccine candidate to be approved and brought in the market, it remains to be seen if the country can get a vaccine before 2020 ends.c