Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Lisa LaVange, Stacey J. Adam, Judith S. Currier, Elizabeth S. Higgs, Lora A. Reineck, Eric A. Hughes, Sarah W. Read
Summary: The ACTIV public-private partnership developed and launched 9 master protocols within a short time frame to evaluate multiple investigational therapeutic agents for COVID-19, serving different patient populations. These protocols were designed to test various drug classes, efficiently selecting effective treatments while eliminating ineffective or unsafe methods.
ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Kenneth Lundstrom, Altijana Hromic-Jahjefendic, Esma Bilajac, Alaa A. A. Aljabali, Katarina Baralic, Nagwa A. Sabri, Eslam M. Shehata, Mohamed Raslan, Sara A. Raslan, Ana Claudia B. H. Ferreira, Lidiane Orlandi, Angel Serrano-Aroca, Vladimir N. Uversky, Sk. Sarif Hassan, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Vasco Azevedo, Khalid J. Alzahrani, Khalaf F. Alsharif, Ibrahim F. Halawani, Fuad M. Alzahrani, Murtaza M. Tambuwala, Debmalya Barh
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to extensive research and development of drugs and vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. Vaccines based on viral vectors, nucleic acids, and whole viral particles have been particularly successful and have received emergency authorization for global mass vaccination. However, emerging variants have raised concerns about vaccine efficacy.
CELLULAR SIGNALLING
(2023)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Khursheed Ul Islam, Thoraya Mohamed Elhassan A-Elgadir, Sarah Afaq, Tanveer Ahmad, Jawed Iqbal
Summary: COVID-19 vaccines provide adequate protection against the original SARS-CoV-2 variant, but new variants may evade this protection. The study focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms, clinical responses, long-term immune protection, and efficacy of vaccines against emerging variants, while exploring alternative treatments like cellular therapies and monoclonal antibodies.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Rutger Daems, Edith Maes
Summary: Developing and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine is a challenging task. The article focuses on policy and strategic aspects to accelerate innovation, fair allocation, and distribution. It explores multiple stakeholders' perspectives and identifies seven important lessons.
Letter
Medicine, General & Internal
Peter W. W. Marks, Robert M. M. Califf, Paul A. A. Offit
Summary: The author of this letter criticizes Offit's viewpoint and presents evidence that shows the bivalent boosters have better immunogenicity against emerging variants. Therefore, the author suggests that the bivalent boosters should be deployed throughout the entire population, including against SARS-CoV-2 omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 as well as the ancestral strain.
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lanying Du, Yang Yang, Xiujuan Zhang, Fang Li
Summary: COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic and it is crucial to develop effective countermeasures against the virus and its variants. Nanotechnology plays a critical role in the rapid design and development of vaccines and therapeutics, with protein nanoparticles, lipid nanoparticles, and nanobodies being important components. This review article explores the roles of nanotechnology in battling COVID-19 and provides an overview of currently available nanotechnology-based vaccines and therapeutics.
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Lawrence O. Gostin, Daniel A. Salmon, Heidi J. Larson
Summary: This Viewpoint discusses the possibility of US states, businesses, health care facilities, and schools and universities mandating coronavirus vaccination as a requirement for employment or service.
JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Robert Boehm, Cornelia Betsch, Yana Litovsky, Philipp Sprengholz, Noel T. Brewer, Gretchen Chapman, Julie Leask, George Loewenstein, Martha Scherzer, Cass R. Sunstein, Michael Kirchler
Summary: The uptake rates of COVID-19 booster vaccines are low, and governments and non-governmental institutions need to take interventions to increase the uptake rate. A crowdsourcing survey found that sanctions were considered the most effective but least accepted intervention. Both experts and the general population positively evaluated interventions such as taking a day off work after vaccination, financial incentives, tax benefits, promotional campaigns, and mobile vaccination teams. These findings provide useful insights for decision-making by governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Renuka Raman, Krishna J. Patel, Kishu Ranjan
Summary: SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its variants posing challenges to containment efforts. Individuals with dysregulated immune response and comorbidities are more susceptible to infection, and research on various vaccines and treatments is ongoing to address this challenge.
Article
Immunology
Reed F. Beall, Aaron S. Kesselheim, Aidan Hollis
Summary: Despite the perception of fast development, COVID-19 vaccines have actually been in development for many years. Research shows that the development timelines for vaccines have been decreasing since the 1980s, and the COVID-19 vaccine fits within this pattern. This study used patent filings to estimate the development time of the COVID-19 vaccine and found that key filings occurred 10.0 years prior to regulatory authorization.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Qinrui Huang, Jiawei Zeng, Jinghua Yan
Summary: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of mRNA vaccines, with positive results reported and future challenges ahead.
JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND GENOMICS
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Hong-Yu Liang, Yuyan Wu, Vicky Yau, Huan-Xin Yin, Scott Lowe, Rachel Bentley, Mubashir Ayaz Ahmed, Wenjing Zhao, Chenyu Sun
Summary: The variants of SARS-CoV-2 have caused a global pandemic of COVID-19, with stronger transmissibility and higher virulence compared to the wild-type strain. Development of vaccines and targeted therapies against these variants is crucial for effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Dan H. Barouch
Summary: This article reviews the protective effects of vaccination and prior infection on severe Covid-19, and proposes future research directions.
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Sanjiv J. Shah, Javed Butler, Svati H. Shah, Tania N. Kamphaus, Vandana Sachdev
Summary: The Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Heart Failure aims to deliver new treatment approaches to meet the largest unmet need in cardiovascular medicine, which is the preserved ejection fraction in heart failure.
NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY
(2022)
Review
Psychiatry
Ying Han, Kai Yuan, Zhe Wang, Wei-Jian Liu, Zheng-An Lu, Lin Liu, Le Shi, Wei Yan, Jun-Liang Yuan, Jia-Li Li, Jie Shi, Zhong-Chun Liu, Gao-Hua Wang, Thomas Kosten, Yan-Ping Bao, Lin Lu
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant economic and social losses, with reports of neuropsychiatric symptoms in addition to respiratory issues, potentially leading to worsened outcomes and poor prognosis. Monitoring individuals exposed to the virus and developing strategies to prevent neuropsychiatric complications are crucial during the pandemic for short- and long-term recovery.
TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
