Stony Brook Medicine is the only site on Long Island and one of two in New York State to be selected to participate in the Novavax Phase Three clinical trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of an investigational vaccine designed to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The clinical trial, to enroll participants over the course of six to eight weeks, will measure whether the vaccine candidate can protect against COVID-19 infection, as well as its ability to reduce the severity of the disease.
Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN), the Novavax clinical trial will recruit up to 30,000 participants at approximately 110 sites across the U.S. The trial arm at Stony Brook Medicine will involve an estimated 500 participants.
“In order to bring rapid public vaccination programs to both the U.S. and other countries of the world, we need several effective COVID-19 vaccines,” said principal investigator Benjamin Luft, MD, Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. “We all want to see economies reopen, schools resume in person, travel restrictions lifted and the ability to gather with the people who matter to us.”
Stony Brook Medicine was chosen as a trial center, in part, because of its expertise in infectious disease research — including vaccinology — and for its ability to perform clinical trials in people with complex medical conditions. Stony Brook was also selected for its strong relationships with the first responder and essential worker community, and for its ability to bring vaccine trial opportunities to underrepresented populations who are at higher risk for infection.
“Our researchers are an important part of the national scientific response to finding an ‘exit strategy’ to curb this terrible pandemic — by contributing on a local and global scale with research grounded in early detection, monitoring, efficacy of new and existing treatments, and, ultimately, effective vaccines to prevent future outbreaks,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, MACP, Senior Vice President, Health Sciences and Dean, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.
To learn more about who is eligible to participate in the trial and how it will work, visit the Renaissance School of Medicine website.
To join the COVID-19 volunteer screening registry, take the survey.
This story was originally published by Stony Brook University.