UK: Human trial begins for Imperial College’s vaccine

LONDON: The first healthy volunteer of a human trial of a vaccine developed by Imperial College Londonhasreceivedit, marking the start of the second such trial in the Ukaftertheoneattheuniversity of Oxford, whichisnowat an advanced stage.

The college said on Tuesday that its clinical team that deliveredasmalldoseofthevaccineat a west London facility is closely monitoring the participant and hasreported that the person is in good health. The volunteer has asked to remain anonymous.

The trial is the first test of a new self-amplifying RNA (SARNA) technology, which has thepotentialtorevolutionisevaccine developmentandenablescientists to respond more quickly to emergingdiseases, the college said.

It added that the vaccine has undergone rigorous pre-clinical safety tests, andinanimalstudies it has been shown to be safe and producedencouragingsignsofan effective immune response.

Katrina Pollock, chief investigator of thestudy, said, “Wehave reachedasignificantmilestonein this groundbreaking study with the first dose of a self-amplifying Rnavaccinedeliveredsafely. We arenowpoisedtotestthevaccine in the dose evaluation phase before moving forward to evaluating it in larger numbers.”

The volunteer will receive a second booster dose within four weeks, withseveral others dueto receive their first dose over the coming days.

In the initial stage of the trial, 15 healthy volunteers are receiving the vaccine - starting with a low dose and escalating to increasingly higher doses for subsequentvolunteers- to assess safety andtofindtheoptimaldosage.

Over the coming weeks, 300 healthyparticipantsareexpected to receive two doses of the vaccine. If the vaccine is safe and shows a promising immune response in humans, then larger trials would be planned for later in the year.