COVAX-19, the Australian Corona Virus Vaccine shows positive results in phase one human trials

The first stage of human trials of the vaccine, known as covax-19, have almost wrapped up, and vaccine developer Professor Nikolai Petrovsky says there’s no reason it can’t be used in Victorian aged care homes now. Adelaide scientists have been working overtime on a new vaccine which has already shown promising results on human trials.

The drug named COVAX-19 was trialled on 40 volunteers earlier this month.

The vaccine is showing promising signs it “could actually save lives”, Vaccine developer Professor Nikolai Petrovsky said, who also predict it could safely be used in humans immediately.

Professor Petrovsky says the vaccine has been shown to produce “very strong” antibodies which kill coronavirus in monkeys, ferrets and mice, and has been proven to induce an antibody response in humans.

“The data suggests it’s highly effective, we just need to finish the clinical trial programs and then seek approval for it.

Volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 in Adelaide have been injected with two doses of either COVAX-19 or a placebo in the phase one trial.

One of the volunteers for the phase one Adelaide trial was SA Best MP Frank Pangallo.

"I feel great — I had my second dose of the vaccine today and no side-effects for me," Mr Pangallo said on Friday.

"I'm really buoyed by the positive results."

Lead researcher Professor Nikolai Petrovsky said the vaccine candidate had been shown to be safe and to induce antibodies that attack the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

"We've had no major side-effects in any of the subjects," said Professor Petrovsky.

He said the vaccine had also shown positive results in trials on animals in the United States in protecting them from COVID-19 infection.

Victorian aged care residents could be included in the next stage of testing for a potential COVID-19 vaccine that has shown positive results during phase one human trials in Adelaide, where COVID-19 has taken a devastating toll.

"We can now test the vaccine in nursing home patients and show that it's effective in inducing the right type of immune responses and hopefully, ultimately, show that it's effective in preventing them getting infected," Professor Petrovsky said.

"Based on the safety of the vaccine in that phase one group, we're now actually going into the elderly, which is very relevant given the problems we're seeing in Victoria."

If the vaccine candidate also passes phase two, the final phase would involve testing on a large population with a high incidence of COVID-19 transmission overseas.

From there, Professor Petrovsky said, it would require approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration before becoming available for distribution in Australia.

Source: ABC , 3AW