The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood to begin phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial in Los Angeles County

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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood will soon begin recruiting volunteers for phase 3 trials of a new investigational COVID-19 vaccine with the first dose expected to be administered in early September.  

The vaccine, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, is called AZD1222 and has already gone through early trials. This trial is designed to determine whether the vaccine can prevent symptomatic COVID-19 after two doses. The study aims to enroll 30,000 volunteers across the United States. It is important to note that this vaccine does not have a live virus and cannot give a person COVID-19. If the results from the trial are positive, the vaccine could be made available to the public to prevent disease. 

"We are excited to work with the National Institutes of Health on this study to identify an effective and safe vaccine for COVID-19, particularly for those communities most impacted by this pandemic," said Dr. Eric Daar, Lead Researcher for the Lindquist Institute on this trial, Chief of HIV Medicine at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center and professor at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine "We are looking forward to engaging and talking with those who are interested in enrolling in the study—without the support from volunteers, identifying an effective vaccine won't be possible. LA County has been hit hard by the virus; vaccines end pandemics, and it is our hope and goal that we can come together and help stop COVID-19 in LA and everywhere." 

"This is a critical moment in time—we need a groundswell of turnout from those in the Los Angeles community to volunteer for this study," said Dr. Raphael Landovitz, Lead Researcher for UCLA Medical Center in Westwood on this trial, and Co-Director at UCLA's Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services.  "In vaccine trials, it is extremely important that we don't only focus on one population; at the same time, it is critical to enroll those who are highest risk of getting exposed, and also getting sick if exposed. Help Stop COVID LA is an opportunity for us to come together, to be a part of the solution, and to move forward together."

Lundquist Institute and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood are part of the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN). The clinical research network, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, aims to enroll thousands of volunteers in large-scale clinical trials testing a variety of investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies intended to protect people from COVID-19.

Lundquist and UCLA Westwood are seeking to engage and recruit more than 750 volunteers who reside in Los Angeles County, primarily including individuals at high-risk for severe disease. This includes: 

• Persons over 60 years of age; 
• Persons with preexisting medical conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. 

The data on communities that have been most impacted by COVID-19 is clear—across Los Angeles County and nationally, Black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. These groups are highly represented in Los Angeles and will be given every opportunity to participate in this important vaccine study because it is critical to enroll those who are at highest risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19.

To be eligible, a volunteer cannot have tested positive for COVID-19. Volunteers will be assigned at random to receive a placebo (saline injection) or the investigational vaccine. The trial is blinded, meaning the participants and the investigators will not know who receives the vaccine. Of the volunteers enrolled, two-thirds will get the study vaccine and one-third will get a placebo or harmless injection. This allows researchers to compare outcomes in the vaccine group versus the placebo group. In the two years that follow, researchers will monitor all study volunteers for the development of symptomatic COVID-19.

To find out more and sign up to volunteer please visit www.helpstopcovid.la  

About The Lundquist Institute:  
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation is a 501(c)3 independent non-profit biomedical research organization that was founded in 1952. The Institute has over more than 120 principal investigators and 400 researchers in total — MD's, MD/PhD's, and PhD's — working on over 1,000 research studies. We are academically affiliated with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and work in partnership with the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Our research is funded by many sources including: grants from the NIH and other government entities, Industry and teaching contracts and royalties, as well as private donors and other non-profit foundations. 

About UCLA Medical Center in Westwood Division of Infectious Diseases:
The Division of Infectious Disease at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood is comprised of a diverse faculty with the shared goal of excellence in patient care, research and education. The division specializes in the care of general medical and surgical patients, departing or returning travelers, transplant and other immuno-compromised patients, and people infected with HIV. Members of the faculty are also responsible for improving the health of the broader UCLA community through the Antibiotic Stewardship Program and Hospital Infection Control and Epidemiology. At each of the practice sites, faculty also perform a broad range of research activities - from hospital epidemiology to HIV prevention; from TB and HIV vaccine development to new treatment strategies for HIV; from studies of viral hepatitis to swine flu, just to name a few.

SOURCE The Lundquist Institute