Search underway for effective vaccine against coronavirus

BOSTON — The search for an effective vaccine against COVID-19 is well underway.

But a Boston doctor says by the time one makes it to market, it could be ineffective, if the virus mutates.

And he spoke about the advantages of synthetic vaccines, and where the epidemic is going.

Back in early February, Dr. Samuel Bogash said the number of new COVID-19 cases is doubling.

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At the time, Bogash, the founder of the Boston firm Replikins, was talking about a pandemic in its infancy.

Just two days earlier, Boston had announced its first case of the coronavirus, involving a man who traveled here from China, where the virus had originated from, in the Wuhan province.

Bogash mapped where and when the outbreak started using specialty software that measures levels of special amino acid groups in the virus that govern replication.

In the last three months, Bogash said his software tracked a nearly four-fold increase in COVID-19 replication in the United States, and there’s no sign of it slowing down.

He called it a “rip-roaring epidemic that’s just getting started.”

But Replikins is looking to the pandemic's end.

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The firm creates synthetic vaccines--an alternative to vaccinations created using cells.

Right now, two COVID-19 vaccines are about to enter human trials.

Nearly three dozen others are in lower stages of development.

Bogash said Replikins has a vaccine candidate too, and it’s ready to be tested in animals.

"If they know it’s available we already have people standing in line who know that we’ve got something," he said.

The small firm is still looking for a partner to help bring it to market.

The most salient difference between biological and synthetic vaccinations is time. The most optimistic estimates say a COVID-19 vaccination, biologically, could be ready in 12-18 months.

Bogash says a synthetic vaccination could be ready in a fraction of that time.

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