Russia May Begin Phase III Trial of COVID-19 Vaccine in Mid-August: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian institute developing one of the country’s possible coronavirus vaccines hopes to begin its final testing phase in a small section of the general public in mid-August, the RIA news agency told Monday. Director of the institute.

Globally, of the 19 experimental COVID-19 vaccines in human trials, only two are in final Phase III trials, one by Sinopharm from China and one by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. China Sinovac Biotech will become the third by the end of this month.

Early results from the first small-scale human trial of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow have shown it to be safe for use, according to a separate RIA report on Sunday.

“I hope that between August 14-15, the small amount of vaccine that we should be able to produce will go into public circulation,” said Alexander Ginsburg, director of the institute.

This will be equivalent to a Phase III trial, as people receiving the vaccine will remain under supervision, RIA reported, citing Ginsburg.

Phase I and Phase II trials generally test the safety of a drug before it enters Phase III trials that test its efficacy in a larger group of volunteers.

Human trials of the Gamaleya Institute vaccine began on June 18, with nine volunteers receiving one dose and another nine testing the prospective booster dose.

The group did not experience any significant side effects and must be released from the hospital on Wednesday, RIA reported Sunday, citing a director at Sechenov University in Moscow, where the trial took place.

“The data currently available … shows that volunteers have developed an immune response to the coronavirus vaccine,” the defense ministry involved in the trials said Monday, cited by RIA. Another 20 volunteers received the vaccine at a military hospital on June 23.