Rwanda FDA approves Platform Life Sciences and GreenLight Biosciences to launch a Phase I clinical trial in Rwanda for mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Platform Life Sciences, a high impact Clinical Research Organization, with the mission to modernize clinical trials on a global scale, has signed a key agreement with GreenLight Biosciences to support their Phase I clinical trial, GLB-003, for a novel mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 in Rwanda – that today has been approved by the Rwanda FDA.

The trial will be performed by leading clinical investigators in Rwanda, in partnership with Platform Life Sciences. Rwandan scientific leaders have conducted several clinical trials for large pharmaceutical companies and are at the forefront of advancing end-to-end research and development in Africa.

Platform Life Sciences has built an innovative global partnerships network for executing clinical trials with modern technology and infrastructure that has the potential to lower costs and accelerate the time to market for products.  The network has expertise in COVID-19, vaccines, viral respiratory, and other infectious diseases.

"We share a common vision with Platform Life Sciences of working towards global vaccine self-sufficiency and look forward to using Platform Life Sciences in the conduct of our clinical trial," said Andrey Zarur, CEO, and co-founder of GreenLight Biosciences.

In the last few years, global public health has been compromised by infectious diseases and outdated clinical trial practices. Platform Life Sciences has invested in the successful development of a complex global network of community-based sites, designing a configuration and workflows with infrastructure that can assess a protocol and mobilize Phase I, II, and III trials with great efficiency. Platform Life Sciences goes where the disease is and focuses on patient populations wherever they are located. Africa has been one of the highest economic growth regions in the world and has substantial potential for clinical research, production, and consumption – including in Rwanda.

Platform Life Sciences has also created a Community of Practice across its investigators and sites to ensure constant quality improvement and innovation in how to conduct trials and to maximize investigator engagement to conduct trials more rapidly and, potentially, accelerate access to life-saving products.

"We are delighted with the approval of this trial by the Rwanda FDA. Trust, long-term relationships, and local expertise have all come together to allow us to move from protocol assessment to trial approval at due speed," said Dr. Ed Mills, founder, and Chief Science Officer of Platform Life Sciences. "We look forward to this Phase I with GreenLight Biosciences while we are already working on large scale trials that have the potential to rapidly recruit and complete clinical trials in many thousands of participants. 

About Platform Life Sciences.
For more information about Platform Life Sciences, please contact Platform Life Sciences at [email protected] or visit our website at www.platformlifesciences.com.

SOURCE Platform Life Sciences