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The ongoing pandemic has changed the world. It is rapidly spreading all around the globe. Confined to homes, everybody hoped for this to end. A ray of hope in this darkness is the ongoing clinical trials. A vaccine might be a permanent solution for coronavirus.
What is Coronavirus?
Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 is an infectious disease affecting the nose, upper throat, and lungs. This is caused by a strain of coronaviruses called SARS – CoV-2. The common symptoms of COVID – 19 are fever, dry cough, and tiredness.
Other symptoms include sore throat, conjunctivitis, headache, diarrhea, loss of smell or taste, etc. These are seen in very rare cases. The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China. Later this respiratory disease got spread across the globe.
What is translational research?
Translational research involves the application of knowledge gained through basic biology and clinical trials to various techniques and trials involved in the development of new medicines, drugs, etc. The goal of translational research is to translate basic science discoveries quickly and efficiently into medical practice.
There are two stages in translational research
T1 stage 1: the transfer of knowledge from basic research to clinical research.
T2 stage 2: the transfer of findings from clinical studies or clinical trials to practice settings and communities.
It is believed to be the process of moving findings from a doctor’s bench to a patient’s bedside. Translational research is important for improved health care.
What are clinical trials?
Clinical trials are research studies performed in people. They are used in evaluating medical, surgical, or behavioral interventions. These experiments are carried out to find if the new treatment, medicine, or drug is safe for the public to use.
There are four stages in clinical trials:
- Tests the new drugs for the first time in a small group of people. The basic side effects are identified in this stage.
- Tests the treatments that are found safe in stage 1. This is done on a quite large group of people to identify adverse effects.
- In stage 3, the tests are conducted over a large population of different regions and countries.
- In stage 4, further testing is done on a wide population for a longer period of time. This is done after a country has approved the drug.
Clinical trials for Coronavirus.
To minimize the adverse effects of coronavirus, researchers have started parallel clinical trials. Researchers across the globe are doing various clinical trials. Countries like the USA, China, Russia, India, and many more are on their way to develop vaccines that would end the pandemic.
There are around 3,313 registered clinical trials for coronavirus. There are various types of interventions for clinical trials. Out of the 3,313 clinical trials, around 1,085 are done to find out the drugs that are safe to use by the patients diagnosed by COVID.
Around 70 clinical trials are done for the coronavirus vaccine. 1,266 trials are done regarding other interventions like diagnosis, genetics, radiation, dietary supplements, biological, etc.
Out of all the clinical trials, 97 are in stage 4. The majority of the trials are in stage 3, ie., the trials are going on for a large population belonging to different countries. While one-third of the clinical trials are in the second stage.
These clinical trials are done on people of different age groups ranging from children below 18 years to old age citizens above 65 years. Various trials are done to identify the benefits of monotherapy and combination therapy.
Monotherapy: monotherapy is the process of treating a disease using only one variety of drugs or medicines.
Combination therapy: In this method, more than one type of medication is used to treat the disease. This is also known as polytherapy.
Many researchers have found that the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are effectively working in treating the coronavirus.
The acute respiratory syndrome, coronavirus have affected approximately 38 million people across the globe to date. In less than 6 months, around 1,083,234 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19. These numbers are increasing day by day.
This pandemic disturbed the lives of almost everybody on the planet. There are millions of people across various countries who are affected in an indirect way. Some have lost their employment, a huge loss in their businesses, and much more.
Coronavirus has become a challenge to both the common man and the scientific experts. The doctors, researchers, and scientists are working restlessly worldwide. While the doctors are going the extra mile to treat and control the spread of coronavirus, the researchers and scientists are also grinding 24/7 for the invention of the vaccine.
