Clinical trials in progressAs reported by CEPI scientists in April, 115 total vaccine candidates are in early stages of development,
with 78 confirmed as active projects (79, according to the Milken Institute) and 37 others announced, but with little public information available.
Of the 79 confirmed active projects,74 are either in "exploratory" or "preclinical" development, while
only five are in Phase I human testing, as of April according to CEPI.
(1) The
US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) collaborated with Moderna to develop an RNA vaccine matching a spike of the coronavirus surface. The team at the NIAID is led by Kizzmekia Corbett. NIAID registered a
Phase I safety clinical trial of the vaccine candidate, called mRNA-1273, to study 45 healthy adults in Seattle, with recruitment completed on 19 March 2020. As of 30 March, an additional site was recruiting at the Emory Vaccine Center in Decatur, Georgia, and a third location had been added: the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland (not yet recruiting).
(2) A Phase I safety trial of a recombinant adenovirus vaccine candidate manufactured by CanSino Biologics Inc. (Tianjin,
China), called Ad5-nCoV, began recruiting 108 healthy adults in Wuhan, China in March, with trial data collection planned to last to the end of 2020. A
Phase 2 randomized clinical trial of this vaccine with a starting date of 12 April was registered, aiming to recruit 500 participants: 250 to a middle dose, and 125 each to a low dose or placebo injection.
(3) Sarah Gilbert at the Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford (
UK) announced that they had developed a vaccine candidate based on an adenovirus vector called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, and signed a manufacturing contract with Advent. They announced plans to start animal studies in March 2020, and began recruiting 510 human participants for a
phase I/II trial on 27 March. The trial will randomize 260 participants to the experimental vaccine and 250 to a saline injection, with six months of follow-up.
(4) Inovio Pharmaceuticals initiated a
Phase I trial of a DNA-based vaccine candidate called INO-4800 in collaboration with a Chinese firm and support from CEPI and the Gates Foundation, beginning on 6 April 2020.The trial includes 40 healthy volunteers, with 6 months of follow-up at sites in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
(
US-
China)
(5) The Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute started a
Phase I trial in
China during March using a pathogen-specific, genetically-altered, antigen presenting cells (aAPC) to determine safety and immune response in 100 healthy and Covid-19-positive volunteers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine 
