COVID Clinical Trials: Antibodies, Immunity, and Vaccine Development

Weill Cornell Medicine’s ability to adapt has been evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as it shifted from becoming an epicenter from COVID-19 patient care, to becoming a site for Stage III clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. 

During Phase 3 of a clinical trial, researchers work with between 300 and 3,000 volunteers to test the efficacy of the potential vaccine and monitor patients for possible adverse reactions. Although this phase of study typically takes between one and four years to complete, U.S. Health and Human Services has called on researchers “to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics” with no compromise to patient safety.  

Patients interested in volunteering to participate in a clinical study may contact the Coronavirus Prevention Network or email cctucovid@med.cornell.edu. 

Recorded on August 20, 2020,  this episode of the Weill Cornell Medicine Insights webinar series, called “COVID Clinical Trials: Antibodies, Immunity, and Vaccine Development,” brings together expert faculty members who have been on forefront of the medical center’s vaccine trials. 

To learn more about Weill Cornell Medicine’s work in this area and the activities of our faculty, please visit these links:

• Learn more about Dr. Kristen Marks and her leading of the team conducting Moderna Therapeutics’ phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center is one of dozens of medical centers around the U.S. where this still-experimental vaccine will be tested. 
• Dr. Roy Gulick is co-chairing a National Institutes of Health panel that is developing treatment guidelines for COVID-19. Learn more about his and other Weill Cornell physician-scientists’ COVID research in the summer 2020 issue of Weill Cornell Medicine Magazine.
• Dr. Carl Nathan, one of the world’s leading authorities on infectious diseases and advancing therapeutics from the bench to the bedside, is leading efforts to fight another looming health crisis: the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections.
• Dr. Marshall Glesby explains how clinical trials work in a fascinating article in The Cornell Daily Sun newspaper.