Scancell Holdings PLC (AIM:SCLP, OTC:SCNLF) said the authorities in South Africa have agreed to a broadening of its phase I Covid vaccine study.
Allowing the drug to be administered in a real-world setting will enable researchers to better capture “meaningful data” on safety and how well the inoculation works, it added.
It will also accelerate the recruitment process, investors were told.
Codenamed COVIDITY, the trial initially began dosing healthy, vaccine-naïve, non-infected participants.
Now, the University of Cape Town Lung Institute will be allowed to draft volunteers who have previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 irrespective of their vaccination status and also people who are vaccinated but not infected with the virus.
"With this amendment to the COVIDITY trial allowing us to expand the patient population to reflect a real-world setting, we believe we will be better able to capture meaningful safety and immunogenicity data,” said Scancell chief executive, Professor Lindy Durrant.
The phase I evaluation is testing Scancell's two clinical candidates - SCOV1 and SCOV2.
So far, 22 people have been enrolled on the COVIDITY trial, and thus far the jabs have been well-tolerated, with no safety concerns.
In preclinical models, both have induced a significant immune response.
A data readout is expected in the second half of the year.