Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine triggers immune response in early-stage trial

Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine triggers immune response in early-stage trial Canadian drug developer Medicago said on Tuesday a combination of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine booster produced virus-neutralizing antibodies in all healthy volunteers in an early-stage study. Manas Mishra U.S.

(Reuters) - Canadian drug developer Medicago said on Tuesday a combination of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine booster produced virus-neutralizing antibodies in all healthy volunteers in an early-stage study.

The company, which is backed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and tobacco giant Philip Morris, said it planned to move into mid-to-late-stage trials with a lower dose version of its vaccine, along with the GSK adjuvant.

“What we’re most encouraged with is that we are able to go with the lowest dose for our phase 2/3 trials,” Medicago’s Chief Executive Officer Bruce Clark told Reuters.

Trials from rival coronavirus vaccine developers have generally shown that lower doses produce less side effects. Medicago did not disclose full safety data, but said side effects were mainly mild to moderate.

Further trials of the vaccine would not test Dynavax Technologies Corp’s adjuvant, based on full data from an interim analysis of the 180-volunteer trial that had been submitted to the medical website medRxiv.

Medicago is Canada’s most advanced domestic COVID-19 vaccine project, but lags larger, global rivals such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson which have begun late-stage trials. ...