UK Covid-19 Vaccine Trials Begin Next Week

Imperial College London set to begin human trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine next week.

08:56 12 June 2020

A vaccine team at Imperial College London has developed a vaccine that provokes the body into making an immune response when faced with the coronavirus strain. The vaccine, which will be trialled starting June 15 on 300 people, delivers genetic instructions to muscle cells to make the "spike" protein on the surface of the coronavirus. 

 

If successful, a further trial is planned in October and will involve 6,000 people. Imperial hopes the vaccine could be distributed in the UK and abroad early next year. Oxford University is also currently conducting human clinical trials on a separate vaccine. 

 

Imperial College London and VacEquity Global Health (VGH) will waive royalties for the UK and low-income countries "and charge only modest cost-plus prices to sustain the enterprise's work, accelerate global distribution and support new research."

 

The college added: "The social enterprise's mission is to rapidly develop vaccines to prevent SARS-COV-s infection and distribute them as widely as possible in the UK and overseas, including to low-and middle-income countries. 

 

Professor Robin Shattock, who leads the vaccine team, said: "We have spent an intense six months to fast-track our vaccine to the clinic. Now we are ready to combat the virus through our clinical trials. 

 

"We are grateful to the thousands of people helping us advance the vaccine: from donors, investors and the Government to volunteers for our clinical trials. 

 

"These new enterprises are the most effective way for us to deliver Covid-19 vaccines quickly, cheaply and internationally, while preparing for future pandemics."