ICON to partner with US govt agency to test COVID vaccine candidates (updated)

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13/09/2023 13:23

(Adds details on trial and background in paragraphs 2-6)
       Sept 13 (Reuters) - Contract research firm ICON Plc
 ICLR.O  said on Wednesday it is partnering with the U.S.
government for a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of
next generation COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
    As part of the collaboration with Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Authority, ICON will conduct a
mid-stage trial of 10,000 participants to assess the efficacy of
a next generation COVID-19 vaccine relative to currently
available shots.
    The U.S. agency will select the vaccine candidate for the
trial.
    The trial is part of a $5 billion U.S. government initiative
called "Project NextGen", which aims to provide better
protection from coronaviruses, including the one that causes
COVID-19.
    While current vaccines and treatments have been effective,
there have been concerns around their durability of protection
against a rapidly mutating virus.
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized
updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer  PFE.N /BioNTech
 22UAy.DE  and Moderna  MRNA.O  that target the XBB.1.5
subvariant of the virus.

 (Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb
Chakrabarty and Shounak Dasgupta)
 ((Pratik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com))