Covid-19 vaccine trial set to begin in UK; scientist says 80% chance of success

The race to develop an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus gathered pace in the week, as clinical trials on humans were approved in Germany and launched within the UK.

Though there are now around 150 development projects worldwide, the German and British plans are among only five clinical trials on humans which are approved across the world. In Britain, volunteers during a trial at the University of Oxford are set to be on Thursday the first dose of a possible vaccine based on a virus found in chimpanzees.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, German regulatory body PEI green-lighted the country's first trials on human volunteers for a vaccine developed by German firm Biotech and US giant Pfizer. The Oxford trial, pass by the university's Jenner Institute, will involve 510 volunteers aged between 18 and 55 within the first phase.

Research director Professor Sarah Gilbert estimated that it's around an 80 per cent chance of being successful. The institute aims to develop a million doses of the vaccine by September, so on distribute it as quickly as possible after approval.

The Oxford trial is a component of a nationwide effort within the UK which since Friday has been spearheaded by a government task force. In Germany, meanwhile, the PEI said its approval of the Biotech trial marked a "significant step" in making a vaccine "available as soon as possible".

In the first phase, it'll see "200 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 years" vaccinated with variants of the vaccine, while the second phase could see the inclusion of volunteers who belonged to high-risk groups. On Wednesday, Biotech CEO Ugur Sahin told a news conference that tests would begin "at the tip of April".

He added that the firm expected to have collected the first data by "the end of June or beginning of July". The biotech also said that they and Pfizer hoped to achieve regulatory approval soon to check the same vaccine candidate within the US.

The PEI meanwhile claimed that "further clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidates will start in Germany within the next few months". There are currently no approved vaccines or medication for the COVID-19 disease, which has killed more than 170,000 people worldwide and infected over two million.

Experts estimate that it'll take a minimum of 12 to 18 months to develop a new vaccine. Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a vaccine was the sole thing to return "normalcy" to the globe, and involved development projects to be accelerated.

A UN resolution adopted on Monday, meanwhile, called for "equitable, efficient and timely" access to any vaccine which may be developed. Aside from Biotech and Oxford, three other clinical trials on humans are approved worldwide since mid-March, with Chinese and US developers among the first to move.

Beijing approved the first trial for a vaccine developed by the military-backed Academy of Military Medical Sciences and Hong Kong-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio on March 16. That day the US drug developer Moderna said it had begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health.

Another US lab, San Diego-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals, began the first phase human trials on April 6. Yet while Biotech hailed what it called a "global development program" on Wednesday, the look for a vaccine has also been a cause of friction between countries.

Last month a newspaper report alleged that the US had attempted to buy exclusive rights to vaccine research being carried out by CureVac, another German firm. Though CureVac and US officials dismissed it as unfounded, the newspaper report caused outrage in Berlin, and prompted Economy Minister Peter Altmaier to declare that "Germany isn't for sale".