Sanofi, one of the largest drug makers, will test experimental coronavirus vaccine on humans starting September

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• Sanofi plans to get thousands of subjects onboard across the world for the trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines that it is developing with GSK.
• Once enrolled, the company will start early-stage trials in September.
• The pharma giant has already partnered with GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and is researching also exploring other options simultaneously.
• It hopes to introduce the vaccine next year, reported Reuters.

Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company, says it is working on two different projects to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The pharma giant has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and is researching other options as well. It hopes to introduce the vaccine by next year, reported Reuters.

The plan is to get thousands of subjects on board across the world to test the experimental coronavirus vaccines that it is currently developing with GSK. Once enough people are enrolled, the company plans to start early-stage trials in September. The project is backed by the US Health Department’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

“We envisioned Phase I to actually have several hundreds of subjects, so it is really a phase I/II trial,” said John Shiver, head of vaccine research at Sanofi.

Phase I of clinical trials normally constitute a small number of healthy volunteers and then the experimental vaccine is given to a large number of people for trial. However, Sanofi might decide to skip Phase 1 altogether given the urgent requirement.

The company has promised to manufacture 600 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by next year. Moreover, it’s also negotiating with some countries to bring in advance purchase orders for these doses, said the report.

Sanofi will use an S-protein COVID-19 antigen to target coronavirus’ spike protein — that helps coronavirus enter the human body. Where GSK will provide an adjuvant, which will reduce the amount of vaccine needed per dose.

Apart from GSK, the French pharma giant is also working with the US-based Translate Bio Inc to develop another vaccine.

Ever since China’s scientist released the genome of the novel coronavirus, researchers around the world have been racing to develop a vaccine that has killed 257,301 and infected 3.6 million people around the world so far. As of now, 10 out of 100 vaccine candidates have reached the clinical testing stage.

There are at least 70 research efforts underway to develop a coronavirus vaccine, according to the World Health Organisation.

The front runner is the University of Oxford, which claimed that the clinical trial of the vaccine its developing is likely to finish by September. The world’s largest drugmaker, Serum Institute of India, has already started manufacturing the Oxford vaccine without prior approval. However, SII said it will not create a barrier in global supply by retaining the intellectual property rights of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

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