Volunteers needed for latest UK COVID-19 vaccine study launched in Camden and across the UK

Volunteers from the Camden area are being asked to sign up to the latest COVID-19 vaccine study to be rolled out across the UK.

 

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-supported Valneva Phase 2/3 study, will be run at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) and The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and is open to healthy adults who have not had a previous COVID-19 vaccine.

 

4,000 participants will be recruited across the UK, and everyone involved in the study will receive two active vaccine doses, administered in a four-week interval. Those enrolled in the study over the age of 30 will be randomised to receive two doses of either the Valneva vaccine, or the approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Participants aged 18 - 29 can be enrolled into the study to receive the Valneva vaccine and will not be offered the approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

 

Developed by the specialty vaccine company Valneva, the vaccine is being manufactured at the company’s site in Livingston, West Lothian, and is the only inactivated, adjuvanted (an ingredient to create a stronger immune response) COVID-19 vaccine in clinical development in Europe.

 

Professor Vincenzo Libri, Director of the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility which oversees the Covid-19 vaccine trial program at UCLH, and co-Investigator of the Valneva trial said: “We are proud to add this Covid-19 vaccine trial to our portfolio and to continue as a leading UK hospital in the prevention of this horrendous disease. We encourage as many volunteers as possible to take part in the trial, hopefully for their own protection and to contribute to development of a new safe and effective vaccine.”

 

Dr Fiona Burns, who is leading the trial for The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We strongly encourage people to sign up in this trial, as more safe and effective vaccines are needed to protect the population.”

 

Volunteers for the study will be vaccinated at the beginning of May, and a proportion of potential participants will be identified through the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry, which currently has over 480,000 sign ups. Subject to successful Phase 2/3 data, Valneva aims to make regulatory submissions for initial approval in the autumn of 2021.

 

If Valneva’s vaccine is shown to be safe and effective, up to 250 million vaccine doses could be supplied to the UK and other countries around the world. As part of the UK government’s vaccine procurement approach, up to 100 million doses of this vaccine have been secured.

 

To register interest in vaccine studies and sign up to be contacted by researchers, people can visit the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry (www.nhs.uk/researchcontact).

 

Professor Adam Finn, Chief Investigator for the Valneva study said: “Following very encouraging safety and immune response results from our phase 1 study, along with my investigator colleagues, I am really looking forward to starting on this important next stage of the clinical development of this important new vaccine.

 

“We definitely need more vaccines to help us out of this pandemic and this one is a very promising candidate.”