London: Germany-based vaccine maker CureVac on Monday announced that early trials of its candidate CvnCoV have triggered a safe and immense response among participants in its Phase 1 trial.
The vaccine produced strong binding and neutralising antibody responses in addition to first indication of T cell activation, the company said.
More than 250 individuals aged 18 to 60 years were involved in the trial.
The vaccine was administered intramuscularly with escalating dose levels o
f 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 microgram on days 1 and 29.
The vaccine was also tried on 10 individuals who had previously had COVID-19 (seropositives).
“We are very encouraged by the interim Phase 1 data. It represents a critical milestone in our Covid-19 vaccine programme and strongly supports the advancement of our vaccine candidate,” Franz-Werner Haas, Chief Executive Officer of CureVac, said in a statement.
“Following further data readouts and discussion with regulatory authorities, we remain fully committed and on track to initiate a pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial before the end of 2020.”
There were no serious side-effects. At 12 microgram, fatigue, headache, chills, muscle pain, and to a lesser extent, fever were seen, the company said. These were resolved rapidly.
“These initial data show a robust and highly efficient immune response to our natural mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid)-based CVnCoV vaccine candidate, including antibody and initial T cell responses at the level of a relevant panel of symptomatic convalescent patients,” said Mariola Fotin-Mleczek, Chief Technology Officer of CureVac.