Oz-based Wexford scientist at heart of Covid-19 vaccine trial
THERE ARE HIGH HOPES THAT THE CLINICAL TRIAL WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR A VIRUS BREAKTHROUGH
A scientist from Castlebridge is at the forefront of a major trial going on at the moment in Australia looking at the potential for the BCG vaccine to protect adults against coronavirus.
Professor David Lynn moved to Australia in 2014 to head up a team at the South Australian Health and Research Institute (SAHMRI) in Adelaide.
However, he is now at the heart of a trial that could have a massively positive impact, worldwide.
Prof Lynn was educated in St Peter’s Secondary School in Wexford town and attended Trinity where he completed a degree in genetics.
He did his PhD in UCD where Cliona O’Farrelly, another senior academic from Co Wexford and now an immunologist at Trinity, was his supervisor.
His wife, Dr Miriam Lynn, is from Dublin and she is also an immunologist who is also part of the team working on the trials.
Speaking from his home in the Adelaide hills, Prof Lynn said the BCG trial began through a colleague of his in Melbourne named Nigel Curtis.
‘It’s a very big trial and it began through Nigel Curtis out of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne,’ said Prof Lynn.
‘He came up with the idea and it began in Melbourne and then spread out through Australia and I’m heading the team in south Australia, in Adelaide,’ he added.
‘We had been working in this area independently of Nigel’s group and we were at the same meeting in the UK at the end of February, which was about non-specific vaccines.’
‘It was shortly after we got back that Covid-19 broke out of China and as soon as we heard Nigel had begun the trial, we got in touch,’ he said.
Prof Lynn highlighted the fact the trial was undertaken within ‘a very fast timeframe’.
‘Normally, a trial like this could take a year to plan but this time it was a matter of weeks to get it going,’ he said.
‘It was up-and-running in Melbourne in March and we started in early April so we are a couple of weeks behind Melbourne,’ he added.
Prof Lynn said the recruitment process for people to get involved in the clinical trial in south Australia began on May 14.
With regard to overall recruitment he said they are trying to reach 10,000 healthcare workers in Australia and Europe; the trials have also now been introduced in the Netherlands and Spain as a result of their respectively high rates of infection.
Prof Lynn said the research carried out in other studies, including in countries in Africa as well as in more developed countries, found that infants with BCG vaccination have protection against other types of respiratory related infections.
He said some studies from Africa showed the death rate in infants up to the age of five was reduced significantly in those who received the BCG vaccine.
Prof Lynn said evidence would suggest the BCG vaccine could have beneficial ‘non-specific’ effects.
He said the studies from developed countries showed the vaccine reduced serious respiratory illnesses and sepsis.
‘This virus is respiratory related and in adults the data is less because BCG is [usually] for infants,’ he said.
However, he added that a study in the Netherlands two years ago saw adults being given BCG and the results from that indicated there might be some non-specific protection against viruses like SARS Covid.
Another study involving mice also produced some very positive results.
There was only one new case in south Australia within the last two weeks, however, Prof Lynn said the trials will have a two-fold purpose.
In the first instance, they will trial to see if the BCG vaccination leads to fewer cases of Covid-19.
However, even if it has no affect on infection rates the trials will also examine whether those who got the BCG jab experienced less severe illnesses.
Samples from the volunteers in the trial will be used to look for antibodies to Covid-19 and also to examine how the human immune system responds after the BCG jab is administered.
Prof Lynn explained that innate immune cells are the ‘first responders’ to germs and it’s expected that the vaccine will prep defensive genes in such cells.
‘We do not have a specific vaccine against this virus but hopefully we will in a years time but this might give non-specific protection in the interim,’ he said.
With regard to the expected timeframe for the trials Prof Lynn said realistically it will be at least 12 months before results will be forthcoming.
He said the volunteers in the trial will be tracked over 12 months and bloods will be taken at specific intervals.
‘That allows us to test them to see if they have any infections or not,’ he said.
‘We can check for antibodies in their blood,’ he added.
The volunteers will also have access to an app on their smart phone and through that they can track their respiratory systems for changes if they get a cold etc.
‘It means we can see if the rates are changing between people who got the BCG vaccine or not,’ said Prof Lynn.
He said at the end of the trial, depending on the results, recommendations will be made.
‘It might also have a protective effect on other respiratory illnesses like colds and flu, and viruses that we do not have a specific vaccine for,’ said Prof Lynn.
The volunteers in the trials are predominantly healthcare workers in hospitals in Australia and Europe.
The process for participation sees them sign up as ‘informed’ volunteers and everyone involved is fully aware of what the trial is for and how it will be undertaken.
It’s also a randomised trial which means some people will be given the real BCG jab while other participants will be given a saline, fake vaccine.
The volunteers themselves won’t be aware of whether or not they have been given the BCG vaccine but Prof Lynn and the other people involved with his team will.
It’s expected the trial will see around half the volunteers get the BCG jab and the other half the fake vaccine with the overall aim being to see if those who get the real jab prove less likely to test positive for Covid-19 or less likely to have antibodies in their blood.
With regard to the outlook for the trial, Prof Lynn said there is plenty of reason to feel optimistic that it will lead to positive results.
‘We wouldn’t have set it up on this scale if we did not think it would have an effect on Covid-19,’ he said.
Prof Lynn admitted there is some cause for excitement about the trials and what they could lead to.
He said the opportunity to contribute to something that could have a positive effect on a global scale, as a result of what the world is going through now, is very rare.
‘A lot of hard work goes into these trials and like I said they normally take a year [to prepare] but we have done it in a number of weeks and we are very pleased to play our part,’ he said.
There are around 30 people working specifically on the trial in south Australia but they are part of a much larger team across Australia and Europe.