UK consortium set to trial COVID-19 adenoviral vaccine candidate

A research consortium led by the Jenner Institute, Oxford University is set to begin fast-tracked clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The adenoviral vaccine candidate, ChAdOx1 nCov-19 (ChAdOx1) is one of five frontrunner vaccines in development around the world, and expected to be the UK’s first COVID-19 vaccine.
Developed at the Jenner Institute, ChAdOx1 is one of the most promising vaccine technologies for COVID-19 as it can generate a strong immune response from one dose.
Cobra Biologics (Cobra), an international CDMO for biologics and pharmaceuticals, issued a statement 31 March saying they had joined the consortium to assist with the rapid development scale-up and production of the vaccine.
The ChAdOx1 consortium includes the University of Oxford Jenner Institute, University of Oxford Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility, the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), Advent Srl, Pall Life Sciences, Cobra Biologics and Halix BV.
The consortium is currently recruiting individuals from a range of ages in the UK to trial the vaccine’s efficacy, in April 2020 – a crucial step in the vaccine’s development. Cobra is actively planning for a fast set-up phase to facilitate the efficient production of a GMP working cell bank and then 200L GMP viral vaccine. The consortium partners expect to develop and manufacture the vaccine candidate in multiple batches, to support a 1 million dose scale batch size, by mid 2020.
For more information about the trial, visit: www.covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk