Coronavirus Vaccine Developed In Adelaide Lab To Start Human Trials
Two doses of COVAX-19, or a placebo, will be injected into 40 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 65 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s clinical trial unit.
But Vaxine research director Professor Nikolai Petrovsky said the human trials beginning in Adelaide today were the first for a vaccine developed in the southern hemisphere.
“Our COVID-19 vaccine is based on a synthetic protein which is produced in insect cells, so it doesn’t require people to be given a virus.”
The first phase of the trial will check whether the vaccine candidate induces the creation of antibodies to kill the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and whether it provokes any serious adverse side effects.
If that phase is successful, the next human trials for the potential vaccine would be conducted on people in higher-risk groups, including older people.
If it clears these hurdles, Professor Petrovsky said, then it will require approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) before becoming available for distribution in Australia.
