Canada's Medicago and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced Thursday the launch of phase 2 and 3 clinical trials on a Covid-19 vaccine, one of a series of candidates being developed worldwide, AFP reports.

Final phase 3 trials of the plant-derived vaccine candidate will begin by year's end and will be tested on 30,000 volunteers in North America, Latin America and Europe, according to a joint statement.

Phase 2 trials will be conducted in multiple locations across Canada and, upon government approval, in the United States.

A global scramble has been underway to develop and test vaccines against the coronavirus, which has sickened tens of millons of people worldwide and deeply wounded the global economy.

On Tuesday, Medicago reported that its vaccine candidate resulted in “100 per cent” protection in 180 healthy people who participated in its phase 1 clinical trials.