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 London has received it, marking the start of the second such trial in the UK after the one at the University of Oxford, which is now at an advanced stage.

The college said on Tuesday that its clinical team that delivered a small dose of the vaccine at a west London facility is closely monitoring the participant and has reported 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 the potential to revolutionise vaccine development and enable scientists to respond more quickly to emerging diseases, the college said.

It added that the vaccine has undergone rigorous pre-clinical safety tests, and in animal studies it has been shown to be safe and produced encouraging signs of an effective immune response.

Katrina Pollock, chief investigator of the study, said, “We have reached a significant milestone in this groundbreaking study with the first dose of a self-amplifying RNA vaccine delivered safely. We are now poised to test the vaccine 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, with several others due to 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 subsequent volunteers - to assess safety and to find the optimal dosage.

Over the coming weeks, 300 healthy participants are expected 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.