Biotechnology company ReiThera Srl reported on Tuesday that its ongoing Phase 1 study of its vaccine candidate (GRAd-COV2) against the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is advancing on schedule.

Designed and is run jointly with the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI) in Rome (Italy), this study received financial support from the Italian Ministry of Scientific Research and the Lazio Region (Rome).

Dosing and initial evaluation on the first cohort of healthy volunteers, aged between 18 and 55 years, have been completed. The company said preliminary results from this cohort, which was divided into three study arms of 15 subjects, have shown that GRAd-COV2 was well-tolerated and generated spike-binding antibodies and T-cell responses at all three doses tested.

ReiThera stated that the trial is now advancing to investigate GRAd-COV2 in the second set of three cohorts of healthy, elderly subjects, aged between 65 and 85 years. It added that results from the trial are expected to enable the selection of a vaccine dose for further investigation in a Phase 2/3 trial.