• Approval granted for clinical trial in South Africa
  • Vaccine targets the core of the virus, not just the spike protein eliciting a t-cell response which can destroy cells infected with any SARS CoV-2 variants and other SARS-CoV viruses that may emerge in the future.

Scancell, the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease announced that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has approved the clinical trial application for the Phase 1 clinical study of COVIDITY, a potential next generation coronavirus vaccine, expected to initiate in H2 2021.

The project, which has funding from Innovate UK, will begin at the University of Cape Town Lung Institute and will involve unvaccinated, healthy adult volunteers.

Part two will take place in South Africa and Britain. After a demonstration of safety, the company will seek approval from the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to begin an extension of the study in which SCOV2 will be given to healthy volunteers who have already received two doses of an approved vaccine.