SA’s human trials against a disease which kills 1m people a year

A vaccine against the dangerous pneumococcal disease developed by a top SA scientist will move to human clinical trials here thanks to a $1 million State Government grant.

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As the world races for a vaccine for coronavirus, a South Australian company will start human clinical trials of a new vaccine against another deadly microbe that causes pneumococcal diseases, blamed for two million deaths a year globally.

GPN Vaccines will run the trials thanks to a $1 million State Government grant. It hopes to significantly improve on the existing vaccine, which is free for babies and high-risk groups under the National Immunisation Program.

The company is using groundbreaking research at the University of Adelaide led by Professor James Paton, SA’s Scientist of the Year in 2017.

Professor James Paton, the Director of the University of Adelaide’s Research Centre for Infectious Diseases.