Medicosnext
In the United States, Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is a collaboration of several US government departments, including Health and Human Services, and the private sector. Through it, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has entered into collaboration with 18 bio pharmaceutical companies to accelerate development of drugs and vaccines to combat COVID-19. Similarly, the government has established a COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network (COVPN) that combines clinical trials funded by various departments, such as the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, HIV Vaccine Trials Network, HIV Prevention Trials Network, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium. Through OWS, three vaccine candidates have been selected for funding their Phase 3 clinical trials, namely, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s AZD1222, Pfizer and BioNTech’s BNT162, and Moderna’s mRNA-1273. According to FDA guidance (effective June 30, 2020), in order to be authorized for use the companies will have to provide placebo-controlled trials data indicating that their vaccine is at least 50% effective against COVID-19.
Ref: Regulatory Focus, 13 August 2020,
