Covid-19: a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection, using the measles vector

Designed by the Institut Pasteur using the measles vector, A SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate has been in Phase I of human testing in France and Belgium since August 2020. This Phase I clinical trial aims to test the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate TMV-083 (also known as V591 or formerly MV-SARS-CoV-2). This is the first administration in humans of this vaccine candidate which was developed by researchers at the Institut Pasteur, in partnership with the Austrian biotechnology company Thémis, (whose takeover by the pharmaceutical group MSD was announced on May 26, 2020) and with the support of CEPI, in order to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.

This TMV-083/V591 vaccine candidate is a live attenuated vaccine, the virus used as a vehicle (or vector) being that of the measles vaccine (MV).

Learn more (in French) on pasteur.fr

Simultaneously, France has been preparing to contribute to the evaluation of the most promising vaccine candidates with the implementation of the COVIREIVAC platform.

International research has mobilized to develop safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19. About 30 vaccine candidates are in clinical evaluations to demonstrate their ability to protect against this infection. At the request of the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health and the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France has been preparing – drawing on its excellent clinical research in the field of vaccination – to contribute to the evaluation of the most promising vaccine candidates with the implementation of the COVIREIVAC platform.

Led by Inserm, COVIREIVAC brings together 24 clinical investigation centers within CHU (French teaching hospitals) throughout France, in close contact with the Collège national des généralistes enseignants (leading scientific organizations of general medicine in France). The clinical operational component of the CHUs is coordinated by the AP-HP (Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, the university hospital trust operating in Paris and its surroundings).

Yesterday, Thursday, October 1st, 2020, COVIREIVAC opened registration of volunteers to conduct the first large-scale clinical trials in France.

Currently, two clinical trials involving vaccines are underway in France, including the Phase 1 trial for a TMV-083 / V591 vaccine developed by the Institut Pasteur, which has begun at the Cochin Hospital (AP-HP) in Paris, in healthy subjects.