A Canada-Made COVID-19 Vaccine Just Began Human Trials & Could Be Ready Later This Year

A COVID-19 vaccine made in Canada has officially begun testing in humans and the CEO says this could be big for the country.

Providence Therapeutics, with offices in Calgary and Toronto, made the announcement on Tuesday saying they have already started the process of dosing volunteers in its phase 1 study.

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We are thrilled to begin human clinical trials of PTX-COVID19-B. Brad Sorenson, CEO, Providence Therapeutics

The vaccine is apparently the first "fully made-in Canada COVID vaccine to reach this stage of development," the statement read.

It's an mRNA vaccine like the ones that are currently available from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

The clinical study is being held in Toronto with 60 volunteers between the age of 18-65 participating in the first phase. The subjects will also be monitored for 13 months afterwards.

Additionally, per the release, there will be more data collected by April 2021 in which they could move on to phase two in May if approved. 

If the vaccine is effective and safe for human use the company estimates that it could begin preparing the vaccine for its commercial launch at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

"Having a made-in-Canada solution to address the global COVID-19 pandemic will augment the reliability of vaccine supply for Canadians, contribute to the global vaccine supply and position a Canadian company on the global stage as a contributor to the solution," said Sorenson.

Cover photo used for illustrative purposes.