July 13, Brisbane
The first human trials using the University of Queensland’s (UQ) COVID-19 vaccine have today commenced in Australia, with healthy volunteers being administered the first dose.
The clinical batch of vaccine for use in the trial, which will be administered by clinical trial specialist Nucleus Network, has been manufactured by the UQ and CSIRO, with technical assistance from CSL and Cytiva. The trial will evaluate the safety and immune response of the vaccine in a group of healthy volunteers.
UQ researchers anticipate the preliminary results of the trials in around three months and, if successful, will hand the vaccine’s development over to CSL to move into the next stage, a larger trial with a broader group of volunteers.
In February of this year, CSL partnered with the University of Queensland to provide technical expertise as well as a donation of Seqirus’ proprietary adjuvant technology, MF59®, supporting UQ’s pre-clinical development program. In June, the partnership was strengthened with an agreement established between UQ, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and CSL appointing CSL as a trusted manufacturer of the vaccine should it be successful.
