The clinical trial aims to evaluate three of RVAC's COVID-19 vaccine candidates that include one against the ancestral strain, one against an Omicron strain, and a bivalent vaccine candidate with components of both ancestral and Omicron strains. The study will commence in February 2023 in partnership with Singapore's National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

"The initiation of Singapore clinical studies is an important milestone in the development our COVID-19 vaccine candidates," commented Dr. Sean Fu, Chief Executive Officer of RVAC. "It is also a strong validation of RVAC's mRNA platform which will further accelerate the advancement of future pipeline projects," he added.

Associate Professor Barnaby Young, Head of Singapore Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network, NCID and Principal Investigator for the study, said, "I am delighted that our team at NCID is working with RVAC to develop a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine in Singapore. This vaccine has the potential to enhance protection against SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants, keeping Singapore safe and resilient against future waves of infection."

This is RVAC's second clinical trial. The first was initiated in September 2022 in Australia (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT05420077).

Since its founding in 2021, RVAC has recruited a team of scientists and industry veterans, and established R&D centers in Boston, Singapore, and Shanghai. Beyond the COVID-19 vaccine candidates, RVAC is developing other mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, targeting infectious diseases such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), and other diseases.