Australian company to begin first human trial of coronavirus vaccine

Gallery

MORE...

Sports

Hockey India names Amir Ali-led 20-man team for Junior Asia Cup

Hockey India on Monday announced the 20-member squad for the Men's Junior Asia Cup, a qual

Harmanpreet Singh named FIH Player of the Year, PR Sreejesh gets best goalkeeper award

World Boxing medallist Gaurav Bidhuri to flag off 'Delhi Against Drugs' movement on Nov 17

U23 World Wrestling Championship: Chirag Chikkara wins gold as India end campaign with nine medals

FIFA president Infantino confirms at least 9 African teams for the 2026 World Cup

Hockey, cricket, wrestling, badminton, squash axed from 2026 CWG in Glasgow

MORE...

Australian company to begin first human trial of coronavirus vaccine

Last Updated : 16 Apr 2020 04:00:55 PM IST

file photo

An Australian company has called out for volunteers in the country's first human trial of a COVID-19 vaccine, expected to take place in coming weeks.

Clinical research company Nucleus Network revealed on Wednesday it would test the effectiveness and safety of a Recombinant Spike Protein Nanoparticle vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, developed by US based biotechnology company Novavax, reports Xinhua news agency.

Paul Griffin, an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist from Nucleus Network told local media on Thursday that the human trial procedures would involve four phases, following strict protocols to make sure it was safe and effective before being released to the public.

"We still have to progress through all the stages of clinical trials and we have to make sure it is safe and effective before we proceed," Griffin said.

According to the Nucleus Network, phase one of the trial was expected to begin in mid-May with preliminary results of effectiveness and safety available in July.

Griffin said it would take roughly 12-18 months from now before the vaccine could be released to the public.

A small group of healthy volunteers would be recruited for the trial to test the effectiveness of this vaccine and according to Griffin, there was absolutely no chance that they could be infected with the disease by taking part.

The World Health Organization estimated at least 20 other COVID-19 candidate vaccines are in development around the world.