COVID-19: First human vaccine trial begins in southern hemisphere
Working with researchers in Melbourne, Novavax expects preliminary results from the Phase 1 clinical trial in July. The trial involves more than a hundred volunteers in Melbourne and Brisbane.
As scientists across the world are racing against the clock to find an antidote for COVID-19, American biotech company Novavax Inc has started the Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate in Australia and has enrolled the trial's first participants, with preliminary results slated for July.
The Maryland-based company in April said it identified the candidate, NVX-CoV2373, with which it planned to use its Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune responses.
Adjuvants are mainly used to make vaccines induce a strong immune response, including through the greater production of antibodies, and provide longer-lasting protection against viral and bacterial infection.
Working with researchers in Melbourne, Novavax expects preliminary results from the Phase 1 clinical trial in July. The trial involves more than a hundred volunteers in Melbourne and Brisbane.
More than 5.4 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, as well as at least 346,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Novavax said, upon successful completion of Phase 1, the Phase 2 portion of the trial will be conducted in several countries, including the United States.
The Phase 2 trial will assess immunity, safety and COVID-19 disease reduction in a broader age range, Novavax said.
Chief Scientific Officer Dr Gregory Glenn said: "What we're bringing to the table is a very strong immunogenic vaccine. It gives you functional responses. We've recently seen in our animal testing a very strong, what we call neutralizing antibodies which should be protective when they're induced in humans."
"So, in this virus it's unique. It has a structure on the surface that binds to a human cell and that allows it to inject its own genetic material into that host cell and the host cell, the host cell, the human cell now becomes a virus factory. So, we're trying to block that process. If we can generate an immune response to the spike protein, which is the protein that binds the human cell, then we can disrupt infection."