40-year-old man becomes first volunteer to participate in COVID-19 vaccine test

By Lim Chang-won Posted : July 15, 2020, 13:05 Updated : July 15, 2020, 13:05

[Yonhap Photo]

SEOUL -- A 40-year-old man became the first to participate in clinical trials for INO-4800, a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by a U.S. biotechnology company. Seoul National University Hospital is recruiting some 160 healthy volunteers for clinical trials until October.

Clinical trials are underway in South Korea to test the safety and efficacy of two vaccine candidates, including INO-4800 developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), headquartered in Seoul, has won approval to test the safety and efficacy of IN0-4800 at Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, a prominent state hospital in South Korea.

"In order to develop vaccines, active participation of healthy applicants is important," said Choe Pyeong-gyun, an SNU Hospital professor of infectious disease. INO-4800 would be administered to 40 people aged 19 to 50 to verify safety. The hospital will acquire immune response data in an experiment on 120 people.

Inovio has promoted INO-4800 as a promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The company has assembled a global coalition of collaborators, partners and funders to rapidly advance INO-4800.
Lim Chang-won

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