University of Oxford, which is in race to develop a vaccine for the Coronavirus, has announced that they will be starting the second phase of their human trials by recruiting around 10000 volunteers for the purpose.
The first phase had been conducted in April
Last month, the first phase of human trials had been conducted on around 1000 people, all aged under 55. However, in the second phase, the University aims to broaden the range, as it plans to recruit more than 10000 people, including volunteers aged above 70 and as young as 5 too.The phase 3 of the trials is likely to include a large number of people, all aged above 18.
A recent study had found that the vaccine, named ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, had shown some promising results in a small study with monkeys. The vaccine contains a weakened version of a virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees. They then combined this virus called the adenovirus with a coronavirus protein called spike protein.
Million doses of vaccine by September
The team working on the vaccine had earlier said it plans to produce one million doses of the vaccine by September. However, the UK Government warned that there are no guarantees a vaccine could be developed against the virus.
Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President for BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, which has a partnership with the university for the production of the vaccine if proved effective, said: “The speed at which this new vaccine has advanced into late-stage clinical trials is testament to Oxford’s ground-breaking scientific research.”
He added: “We will do everything in our power to engage with governments, multilateral organisations and partners around the world to increase production and distribution and ensure rapid, fair and equitable distribution of a globally accessible vaccine.”
Source: India Times
