Hoag Hospital Tapped As Only Site For First Phase Of ImmunityBio & NantKwest COVID-19 Vaccine Trial
NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA) -- Newport Beach's Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian was selected as the sole site for the first phase of a clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by NantKwest and ImmunityBio.
The trial kicked off on Wednesday morning with the inoculation of four volunteers and is expected to be completed within the next couple of weeks, according to the medical team at Hoag.
It marked the first coronavirus vaccine trial for an L.A. based company and motivated volunteers like 25-year-old Irvine resident Chen Cao to sign up.
The first phase will include 35 adults between 18 to 55 years old, including Cao as the first patient.
"I can't imagine how painful it will be for those families who will lose their loved ones, and I just said if I can do something to help, why not?" Cao said.
The NantKwest-ImmunityBio vaccine is one of 43 vaccines in the U.S. to make it to clinical trials, and is designed to stimulate the immune system and promote long-lasting immunity.
"Once we determine that this vaccine is safe and does what it is supposed to do, we're immediately going to move to phase 2 and 3 trials which will enroll several hundred to several thousands of patients,'' said Dr. Philip Robinson, the medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at Hoag.
In January, Hoag Hospital cared for one of the first confirmed coronavirus patients in California.
Nursing home residents and frontline workers would most likely get vaccinated first, Robinson said.
"It'll be sometime in 2021 when ideally someone would be able to go down to their retail pharmacy to get a vaccine,'' Robinson said.
There are other potential coronavirus vaccines being developed nationally and worldwide.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said he thinks by November or December, health experts will know if there's a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine candidate and that Americans could have access to it "likely be within the first quarter of 2021, by let's say April of 2021" — if all the vaccines that are currently in clinical trials work out.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
