March 27, 2020 -- Emory University in Atlanta will begin enrolling healthy adult volunteers ages 18 to 55 years in a Phase 1 clinical trial of an investigational vaccine designed to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The trial, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, began last week at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle. KPWHRI and Emory are part of NIAID’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium. 

The trial aims to enroll a total of 45 participants across the two sites. NIAID scientists and clinicians have been closely monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19 in Washington and throughout the United States. They decided to expand the trial to another geographic area to ensure efficient enrollment.

Evan Anderson, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and medicine, and Nadine Rouphael, M.D., associate professor of medicine, will lead the study at Emory. Participants will receive two shots of the experimental vaccine approximately one month apart and will be followed for approximately one year. The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, was developed by scientists at NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center and the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) supported the manufacturing of the vaccine candidate for the Phase 1 clinical trial.

For more details on the trial, please see NIAID’s March 16 press release and visit ClinicalTrials.gov and search identifier NCT04283461(link is external). Adults in the Atlanta area who are interested in joining this study should contact vaccine@emory.edu(link sends email) (for the Hope Clinic in Decatur) or ecc.vaccine@emory.edu(link sends email) (for the Emory campus in Atlanta).

Source: NIH

Posted: March 2020