French drugmaker Sanofi and its British peer GSK have started a clinical trial for a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate, as pharmaceutical companies race to develop treatments against the coronavirus pandemic.

Sanofi and GSK said in a joint statement on Thursday they had started the “Phase 1/2” trial for their adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine, which they hope to make available across the world.

This vaccine candidate uses the same recombinant protein-based technology as one of Sanofi’s seasonal influenza vaccines with GSK’s established pandemic adjuvant technology.