Mapping the technological landscape of SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Abstract

Purpose: The last two decades have seen the emergence of several viral outbreaks. Some of them are the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV2) - the cause of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Ever, vaccines for emergency use have been authorized for the control and prevention of COVID-19. Currently, there is an urgent need to develop a vaccine for prophylaxis of COVID-19 and for other future epidemics.

Methods: This review describes patented vaccines for SARS and MERS-CoV and vaccines developed and approved for emergency use against the new coronavirus (COVID-19). The European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization were the patent databases used using specific terms. In addition, another search was carried out in the Clinical Trials in search of ongoing clinical studies focused on the COVID-19 vaccine.

Results: The patent search showed that most vaccines are based on viral vector platforms, nucleic acids, or protein subunits. The review also includes an overview of completed and ongoing clinical trials for SARS-CoV-2 in several countries.

Conclusion: The information provided here lists vaccines for other types of coronavirus that have been used in the development of vaccines for COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; MERS; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; pandemic; vaccine.

Figure 1.

Flowchart of patent search and screening.

Figure 2.

Number of patents. (A) Publication date. (B) Country according to the Patent Publication Location – WO: World Intellectual Patent Organization; CN: China; EP: European Patent Office. (C) Patent applicant. (D) International Patent Class (IPC) – A61K: Preparations for medical, dental, or toilet purposes; C07H: Sugars; derivatives thereof; nucleosides; nucleotides; C07K: Peptides.

Figure 3.

Number of clinical trials of for SARS-CoV-2’s vaccines: (A) first registered; (B) vaccinated patients; (C) current clinical phase; (D) leading vaccine developers.

Figure 4.

Number of clinical trials for SARS-CoV-2’s vaccines: (A) distribution of clinical trials in each developer country; (B) distribution of clinical trials by type of sponsor; (C) recruiting status.

Figure 5.

Clusters with correlation of the main keywords. Made by the author using the software VOSviewer.

Figure 6.

Number of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines by type of platform and current phase. VLP: Virus like particle; VVr (Viral vector replicating); VVnr (Viral vector non-replicating); APC (Antigen presenting cell).