Gritstone bio has reported positive results from the first cohort of Phase I CORAL-BOOST clinical trial of its CORAL self-amplifying mRNA (samRNA) vaccine for Covid-19.
Findings showed that the 10µg vaccine dose offered robust neutralising antibody responses to Spike and strong CD8+ T cell responses.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
One of four trials of the CORAL programme, CORAL-BOOST is assessing the reactogenicity, safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine directed against Spike and highly conserved non-Spike T cell epitopes (TCE) as a Covid-19 booster shot.
This ongoing trial in the UK enrolled healthy adult subjects aged 60 years or above and were vaccinated with two doses of AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 (Vaxzevria) Covid-19 vaccine.
New CD8+ T cell responses across a wide range of non-spike epitopes, including several established T cell targets, were observed in the trial, which indicates the vaccine’s variant-proof immunity potential.
The vaccine was also found to be well-tolerated in the trial.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataIt also showed an encouraging safety profile without any grade 3/4 side effects or unexpected reactogenicity or safety issues noted in ten healthy trial adult subjects.
Gritstone bio co-founder, president and CEO Andrew Allen said: “We designed our Covid-19 vaccines to drive broad CD8+ T cell immunity, an additional key layer of protection against viruses.
“This innovation enables the inclusion of a wide array of highly conserved viral epitopes, potentially creating an immune state that may offer more robust clinical protection against current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants and be a first step toward developing a pan-coronavirus vaccine.”
Presently, the trial dose-escalated to a 30mg dose of the vaccine.
With the latest development, the company is modifying the trial to raise the subject enrolment to 120 and assess the inclusion of a second samRNA-Spike-TCE dose of the shot.
Last September, Gritstone dosed the first subjects in a Phase I trial of a self-amplifying mRNA Covid-19 vaccine.
