PARIS : 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 COVID-19 pandemic.Sanofi and GSK said on Thursday that 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.Drugmakers and governments around the world are battling to develop treatments against the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 861,000 lives and crippled economies.The companies said.