A local Covid-19 vaccine candidate will enter clinical trials in October after it was shown to have produced high antibody levels among primates.
Minister of Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Suvit Maesincee on Saturday cited a report by researchers from Chulalongkorn University's vaccine research centre and the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), who have been working on the project for months.
Mr Suvit said monkeys at the National Primate Research Centre of Thailand (NPRCT) in Saraburi's Kaeng Khoi district were given a second shot of the research team's Covid-19 vaccine candidate on June 22.
Two weeks after, the researchers drew blood from the monkeys to gauge the levels of "neutralising antibody" produced by the candidate, he said.
The researchers found the candidate produced "very good" levels of antibody, which led to the decision to begin human trials in October.
Mr Suvit said the recruitment of human volunteers will be carried out in August and September. Details of selection criteria have yet to be released.
The vaccine research team has transferred technology to its foreign research partners in preparation for producing doses of the vaccine for the upcoming human trials, he said.
Kiat Ruxrungtham, director of Chulalongkorn's vaccine research centre and NPRCT director Suchinda Malaivijitnond confirmed the good news relayed to the media by Mr Suvit.
More details about the clinical trials will be divulged at a press conference today, they said.
The government yesterday reported 14 new coronavirus cases, all in quarantine, bringing the total to 3,216 cases since January.
The country has been free of local transmissions for 47 consecutive days, said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
Among the 14 new cases was a nine-year-old who travelled with her family.
A returnee, 42, arrived home from Bahrain on June 28 and was in a state quarantine facility in Chon Buri.
She was asymptomatic and tested positive on July 9.
Another patient, 31, worked onboard a cruise ship in the United States. After returning home last Sunday, she was put in a state quarantine facility in Bangkok. She showed no symptoms but tested positive on Thursday.
The 12 others -- 11 students, aged 19 to 31, and the nine-year-old girl -- arrived home from Sudan on Friday and tested positive the next day, said the centre.
A total of 3,088 patients have recovered from the disease, including one who was discharged yesterday.
Seventy patients remained in hospitals, while the death toll remained at 58.
Global cases in 211 countries yesterday totalled about 12.5 million, up by about 228,000 in the previous 24 hours.
