LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A local company is hoping to bring COVID-19 vaccine trials to Louisville.Â
Mark Prussian, CEO of Eye Care Institute and Butchertown Clinical Trials, said bids are in place to make the institute part of the trials.Â
"We believe that we have the opportunity to do up to five different clinical trials here for vaccines," he said.Â
Although this is still in the bidding phase, he's optimistic.
"It's completely reasonable that we will get them, because multiple sites are needed in different situations across the United States," he said.
Prussian said the Eye Care Institute already works on several clinical trials for primary care. There are so many trials that it's expanding into a new building across the parking lot on Spring Street. Those plans were already in place before the coronavirus pandemic.Â
McRae Enterprises is helping with the new construction, which is expected to begin in July and wrap up by the end of the year. President and CEO Micah McRae said this project is certainly one the team is proud to be part of.Â
"It adds a great reward to the project," McRae said. "It gets beyond just the construction side and turns it into something that helps all society and makes it much more rewarding."
Prussian said a timeline on when vaccines could be available is unclear, but he said he expects it to take at least several months.
"If we're really lucky, and things go really well for researchers and scientists, we could get as lucky as beginning to have actual vaccines ready for the public in 18 months," he said. "However, when the mumps vaccine came out, which was the most recent vaccine that happened quickly, that took four years."
He also wants to make it clear that these bids are only for COVID-19 vaccine trials, not for testing or treatment.
"Vaccines on healthy volunteers, that is something that is completely within exactly, precisely what we do," he said.Â
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