Geelong residents aged 18 to 84 will join the global race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Barwon Health has announced.
Barwon Health and American biotech company Novavax yesterday released details of the trial which, opposed to earlier phase one clinical trials, includes an over 60s cohort.
“It’s an opportunity for Barwon Health and the Geelong community to be involved in ground-breaking international research with historical significance,” Professor Eugene Athan, Barwon Health’s head of infectious diseases, said.
“Participants have a one in five chance to get the placebo, while others will get different doses of the active vaccine candidate.
“We will be monitoring subjects very closely with follow-up visits throughout the trial and testing antibody levels that build up in their blood, indicating potential immunity to the virus, general health and safety and whether subjects develop COVID-19 illness.”
In May about 130 Australians aged 18 to 59 were involved in a phase one trial of the Novavax candidate in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The Geelong trial is part of a larger vaccine study of 750-1500 healthy adults aged 18 to 84 across Australia and the United States.
Deakin University health ethics lecturer Cynthia Forlini welcomed the inclusion of older cohorts in the trial.
She said clinical testing could identify possible side effects in certain aged groups in a controlled environment.
“You don’t want to put bigger populations at risk by deploying a vaccine to the wider population that was only tested on a small slither of the population, for example on 18-to-49-year-olds.
“It’s about knowing the potential side effects, and being able to foresee and manage them.”
Barwon Health is aiming to recruit up to 100 people for the trial, which is expected to start in August and will last into 2021.
The vaccine candidate uses synthesised pieces of one of the surface proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that enable the virus to invade human cells, coupled with a compound that increases the body’s immune response.
On Monday Novavax also announced a phase 2b clinical trial of the vaccine in South Africa for approximately 2665 healthy adults and 240 medically stable, HIV-positive adults.
On Monday Barwon Health posted a call on Facebook for people over 60 to join the trial.
“If you’re healthy and over 60 years of age and want to help with the development of Coronavirus vaccines, participate in the COVID-19 vaccine study,” the post read.
“Participants are reimbursed for their time.”
Barwon Health took the post down a few days later.
The Independent understands this was due to Barwon Health being on target to meet recruitment quotas.
