LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) will test an Australian vaccine-COVAX-19, on active coronavirus patients after preliminary safety data from phase-1 trials on animals found it to be safe and successfully generate an immune response.

The announcement was made by UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Javed Akram in a media briefing, here on Thursday. He said the randomized trial of the vaccine would be made involving 50 Covid-19 patients aged below 60.

"Twenty-five participants will receive two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart, and as many will be given a placebo (a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs)," he said, adding the patients would then have blood tests to measure protective antibody and T-cell responses induced by the vaccine.

Earlier, addressing through video-link Adelaide's Flinders University, Prof Nikolai Petrovsky said COVAX-19 was made from a synthetic protein using a plant sugar, and was based on an earlier SARS-1 coronavirus vaccine that proved effective in animal models.

He said the randomised trial was being conducted at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and involved 40 volunteers, adding COVAX-19 didn't involve any viruses. "The vaccine is just a protein so it can't hurt you, and that's why it's so safe."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020