Vaxine expects to start Phase II trials for potential COVID-19 vaccine in weeks

Medy-Tox

29/07/2020 14:01

By Divya Chowdhury
    July 29 (Reuters) - Australian biotechnology company Vaxine
Pty Ltd expects to start Phase II trials of its potential
COVID-19 vaccine in the next few weeks after "positive" results
from the first stage human study, chairman Nikolai Petrovsky
said on Wednesday.
    Final stage trials could start within the next three months,
he told the Reuters Global Markets Forum chat room in an
exclusive interview.
    "It's extremely safe and well-tolerated. We already have
that data from the clinical trial. We've not had any bad
reactions to the vaccine. That's very positive," he said.
    The company is working with South Korea's MedyTox
 086900.KQ , according to the World Health Organization's list
of candidate vaccines. Human trials on 40 people started this
month.
    No vaccine has yet been approved for COVID-19, the disease
caused by the new coronavirus that has killed more than 659,000
people and unleashed economic havoc worldwide.
    Vaxine's shot is one of more than two dozen at the human
clinical trial stage as the race to tame the pandemic heats up.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2ER39K
    Petrovsky said two years is a realistic but ambitious time
frame to get a COVID-19 vaccine to market, underscoring the
challenge facing the global drugs industry to help control the
virus.
    "We may have vaccines that look effective after one year,
but to then manufacture billions of doses and get them to
people, I think everybody expects two years," he said.
    "If you look at measles and polio, where there was a
desperate urgency, it still took 4-5 years to develop an
effective vaccine."
    In terms of pricing, Petrovsky said COVID-19 vaccines could
potentially cost between $20 to $200 per dose, depending on the
technology's manufacturing cost. He said more effective
vaccines, or those with fewer or no side effects may sell at a
higher price.
    Pfizer's deal with the U.S. government to sell 100 million
doses for $2 billion "indicates that the price for a very large
volume of vaccine will be around $20, but potentially on the
private market, it may be $40-$50 by the time you have mark-ups
by chemists and you get to retail," Petrovsky said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EZ2QW

((This interview was conducted in the Reuters Global Markets
Forum, a chat room hosted on the Refinitiv Messenger platform.
Sign up here to join GMF: https://refini.tv/2LbSKPl))

 (Reporting by Divya Chowdhury
Editing by Josephine Mason and Kirsten Donovan)
 ((divya.chowdhury@thomsonreuters.com; 91 22 6180 7056;
Refinitiv Messaging:
divya.chowdhury.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))