(Reuters) – Britain’s GSK and South Korea’s SK Bioscience said on Tuesday the drugmakers have begun a late-stage trial of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate to assess immune response when compared with AstraZeneca’s approved shot.

The trial will enrol around 4,000 candidates globally and test SK’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, GBP510, in combination with GSK’s vaccine booster following positive early-stage data https://www.skbioscience.co.kr/en/news/news_01_01?mode=view&id=91& earlier this month.

Results from the GSK-SK study are expected in the first half next year, and the vaccine will be supplied worldwide through the World Health Organization-led vaccine sharing programme COVAX if approved, the companies said.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)