Seeking vaccine study volunteers

BUTTE — Mercury Street Medical Clinical Research and St. James Healthcare are partnering in a clinical trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford known as AZD1222.

On Nov. 9, volunteers collected from southwestern Montana were the first in the state to receive an experimental vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca. The trial is in phase 3, the final stage of human testing prior to regulatory approval, production and mass distribution.

Mercury Street Medical Clinical Research will be conducting the trial, while the Laboratory at St. James will be processing the COVID-19 tests of those who participate in the study. The AstraZeneca study is being led by John Pullman, MD, FACP, David Chamberlain, MD, and Erin Williams-Leber, PA-C of Mercury Street Medical.