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SINGAPORE – Singapore could have a Covid-19 vaccine early next year.
The first shipments of the vaccine jointly developed by Singapore researchers are expected in the first quarter.
Arcturus Therapeutics, the US pharmaceutical company working with Duke-NUS scientists on the vaccine, said this on Monday (November 9), announcing positive preliminary results from ongoing early-stage clinical trials in Singapore.
The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) is injecting about $ 45 million (S $ 60.5 million) into making the vaccine, Arcturus said.
EDB will also be entitled to purchase up to $ 175 million of the vaccine at previously negotiated prices, with shipments expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021, Arcturus said.
Duke-NUS School of Medicine professor Ooi Eng Eong, who had co-developed the Arcturus vaccine, said the results so far show that the vaccine could be effective as a single dose.
“This differentiates this investigational vaccine from many other Covid-19 vaccines in development,” said Professor Ooi, who is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Arcturus Vaccine Platform.
“The vaccine has the potential to provide significant public health benefits by greatly facilitating broad administration in multiple populations around the world.”
Arcturus CFO Andy Sassine said the Singapore funds will provide the company with additional resources to sustain a rapid expansion of (the vaccine) to meet the requirements of our existing Israel and Singapore agreements, as well as other potential agreements. supply in 2021.
The encouraging preliminary findings of the Covid-19 vaccine co-developed in Singapore come as the race for the vaccine heats up.
Earlier this week, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced that their experimental vaccine is 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19. They are still waiting for data on security, which could arrive later this month.
Some 106 volunteers are enrolled in the early-stage trials in Singapore, of whom 28 received placebos. Seventy-eight subjects received one dose of the vaccine, while the rest received two injections.
During these early-stage trials, researchers look for dangerous side effects and test patient samples to see how the human immune system responds to the vaccine.
They also seek to determine how many doses are needed to elicit the desired immune response.
Preliminary findings indicate positive responses in both safety and human immune responses.
Arcturus said that no subjects have withdrawn from the study and that there have been no serious adverse events deemed related to the treatment. Regarding the immune response, both antibody and T cell responses have been observed in volunteers.
The Straits Times had previously reported that these later stage clinical trials could begin before the end of this year.
Such trials are much larger in scope than the previous ones, typically involving thousands to tens of thousands of people. They are often carried out in multiple jurisdictions or countries. The goal of these trials is to see if the vaccine can confer protection against infection.
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