Completed Infection & Immunity Public Health & Healthcare

nCoV: Rapid Clinical Development of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19

Funder UKRI
Recipient organisation
Funding £2.2M
Period Mar 2020 — Sept 2021

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A single dose of a new coronavirus vaccine, built on a proven viral vector platform, could be ready for human trials in the UK by June. This matters because the world urgently needs a vaccine that works quickly and with minimal doses. Most rapid vaccine technologies—DNA, mRNA, or recombinant protein—require two or three shots to build protective immunity. The ChAdOx1 vector, already tested safely in humans against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, needs only one dose to protect non-human primates. The same design is now being applied to SARS-CoV-2. If this succeeds, the impact is immediate and concrete: a single-shot vaccine that can be manufactured at scale and deployed rapidly during a pandemic. That would simplify logistics, reduce strain on healthcare systems, and accelerate the return to normal life—not just in the UK, but globally through partnerships. The project is not fundamental science. It is a focused, accelerated clinical development programme. Researchers will manufacture the vaccine to regulatory standards, run a phase I trial in healthy volunteers, and test protective efficacy in two animal models. The goal is to generate the data needed for larger efficacy trials in humans.

View original technical description
ChAdOx1 is a safe and effective vaccine vector that can be used to produce vaccines against many different diseases. Unlike other rapid vaccine technologies, only a single dose of the vaccine is likely to be needed. DNA, mRNA and recombinant protein vaccines typically require two or three doses to achieve protective immunity. ChAdOx1 has been used to make a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus vaccine which is protective in non-human primates after a single dose, and is safe and highly immunogenic in humans as demonstrated in a phase I clinical trial. The same vaccine design has been followed to produce ChAdOx1 nCoV. We now propose to manufacture this vaccine to cGMP and conduct a clinical trial in healthy volunteers in the UK. We will work closely with the MHRA to complete all required testing of the vaccine and obtain regulatory approval in as short a time as possible, with the aim of initiaiting the clinical trial in June. We will also work with partners to demonstrate protective efficacy of ChAdOx1 nCoV in two different animal models. This will provide the necessary information to support further clinical trials of this vaccine to demonstrate efficacy in humans.

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Researchers

Sarah Gilbert (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

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Rapid development of manufacturing processes for future production of adenovirus-vectored COVID19 vaccine at million-dose scale
Development and manufacture of an improved replication-deficient simian adenoviral vector to prevent COVID-19
A single-blind, randomised, phase II study to determine safety and, immunogenicity of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) vaccine ChAdOx1 in UK healthy children and adolescents (aged 6-17)
A phase I/II study to determine efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of the candidate Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 in UK healthy adult volunteers
Post-approval follow-up for the COV001 and 002, trials to determine the long-term safety and character of immunological response to the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine

Original classification

Intramural

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