Canadian biotechnology company Medicago said on 10 November 2020 that a combination of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine booster, produced virus-neutralising antibodies in all healthy volunteers in an early-stage study, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

Medicago, which is backed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and tobacco giant Philip Morris, said it planned to move into mid-to-late-stage trials with a lower dose version of its vaccine, along with the GSK adjuvant.

The CEO of Medicago, Bruce Clark, told Reuters: "What we're most encouraged with is that we are able to go with the lowest dose for our phase 2/3 trials."

Reportedly, trials from rival COVID-19 vaccine developers have generally shown that lower doses produce less side effects.

However, Medicago did not disclose full safety data, but said side effects were mainly mild to moderate.

Medicago had signed its first vaccine supply agreement in October 2020 with Canada for up to 76 million doses.

Clark added the company was in talks with several other countries for potential deals.