Eyegene said on Monday that it received the Australian regulator’s authorization to conduct a phase 1/2a trial of EG-COVID, an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

The company plans to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of EG-COVID’s booster dose in the phase 1/2a study, it said.

In the phase 1 study, researchers will administer a booster shot of EG-COVID to 20 participants who have received the Covid-19 vaccination. In phase 2a, they will administer the shot to 70 people who had an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine and 30 without any Covid-19 vaccination.

The study will take place at Holdsworth House Medical Practice in Sidney.

If the company wins approval for a trial it applied for in February in South Africa, the trial will be expanded to Australia and South Africa.

“As the Australian regulator authorized the clinical trial, we will begin the trial as soon as the vaccine candidate is shipped to the clinical site and further procedures are completed,” an official at Eyegene said. “We expect that the vaccine administration will begin in March.”

In Korea, Eyegene is working on a vaccine that can target the Omicron variant, he went on to say.

After checking the safety and efficacy in animals, the company will add the Omicron vaccine dose group to the phase 2a study, scheduled in Australia and South Africa, to speed up the progress of the clinical study, he added.