UK: Imperial College to start human trials of potential COVID-19 vaccine

Clinical researchers at Imperial College London will start human trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine this week with strong backing from the UK government. The public research university will soon be recruiting more participants for the first phase of the vaccine trial, commencing at its West London study facility.

The team of researchers at Imperial College won £41 million funding from the government and £5 million in philanthropic donations. According to the university, the trial is supported by UK government, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Imperial College’s donor-backed COVID-19 Response Fund.

Professor Robin Shattock, who has been leading the research work, said in a statement that a viable vaccine could be vital for protecting the most vulnerable, enabling restrictions to be eased and helping people to get back to normal life. He said that the team has been able to produce a vaccine from scratch and take it to human trials in just a few months which has never been done before with this type of vaccine. 

“If our approach works and the vaccine provides effective protection against disease, it could revolutionise how we respond to disease outbreaks in future,” he added.

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Gradually increase volunteers

Scientists in China isolated samples of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from COVID-19 patients and sequenced its genetic code. The team, led by Professor Shattock, focused on the part of the sequence that holds the blueprint for the spike protein. They were able to recreate the sequence using enzymes in the lab and generate copies of the RNA without the need for animal cells or human stem cells.

During the first phase of the trial, the scientists will be gathering data from a small group of participants to understand how the immune system responds to the candidate vaccine. The study team will initially start with a very low dose and it will be administered to a single individual and will slowly increase the dose and the number of volunteers until all the remaining participants have been vaccinated.

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(Image: AP)