In this photo illustration, the logo of the British multinational company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) can be seen on a smartphone with a computer model of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the background.
Budrul Chukrut | SOPA images | Getty Images
British GlaxoSmithKline and French Sanofi said on Monday that they had started a new clinical trial with their protein-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate and that they aim to reach the final test phase in the second quarter.
If the results are conclusive, the two drugmakers hope that the vaccine will be approved by the fourth quarter, after initially targeting the first half of this year.
The move comes after drug makers said in December that their vaccine would be delayed after clinical trials showed an inadequate immune response in older people.
The new trial will aim to evaluate the vaccine’s safety, tolerability and immune response in 720 healthy adults in the United States, Honduras and Panama, the companies said.
The Sanofi and GSK candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines. It will be coupled with an adjuvant, a substance that stimulates absorption, made by GSK.
The study will test two injections 21 days apart.