UW Seeks Volunteers For New Coronavirus Vaccine Trial

SEATTLE — The University of Washington School of Medicine is looking to enroll up to 40 volunteers in a clinical trial for a new, second-generation coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by U.S.-based biotechnology company Gritstone.

The first stage of the study will measure safety and immune response at different dose levels in a two-part regimen, researchers said. The second part of the study will focus on doses with multiple SARS-CoV-2 proteins, building on the "spike protein" used in vaccines already approved for emergency use in the United States.

Researchers hope the findings will lead to a vaccine that bolsters protection against variants of concern, which can be more infectious and sometimes lead to more serious illness.

"We know that mutations in the Spike protein have led to the emerging variant strains of the COVID-19 virus," said Dr. Anna Wald, a UW professor and principal investigator of the trial. "We hope that the addition of multiple COVID-19 immune targets to our vaccines, in the second stage of our study, will broaden the immune response and include protection against emerging variant strains."

All volunteers must be at least 18 years old, healthy and at low risk for serious symptoms related to COVID-19.

Here's what participants will be asked to do:

• Commit to coming in for 8 to 9 or more study clinic visits and participating in 4 telephone visits over 13 to 16 months, receiving two injections of vaccine, and having several blood draws for safety monitoring and to see whether the vaccine resulted in an immune response.
• Keep track of how they’re feeling after each injection. The study staff will also be in contact with each participant.
• The results of the immune tests in each vaccinated group will be shared with the participants a few months after the second vaccine.

Those interested in signing up can contact UW Virology several ways:

• Email: gritstone@uw.edu
• Call: 206-520-4340
• Visit: ClinicalTrials.gov for more information, using Clinical Trials Identifier: NCT04776317

The trial is sponsored and funded through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Gritstone's vaccine was developed with support from the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.