CEPI ANNOUNCES FUNDING TO DEVELOP VARIANT-PROOF VACCINE DOSE

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has partnered with an international multidisciplinary consortium of researchers and pharma manufacturers, including Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, University of Sydney, and ExcellGene SA, Switzerland, to develop a Covid-19 vaccine that could work irrespective of the variant.

The organisation, a fund that has invested heavily in vaccine research, manufacture and distribution, made the announcement Tuesday, setting aside $19.3 million from its $200m programme launched in March 2021 to advance the development of jabs that provide broad protection against SARS-Cov-2 variants and other betacoronaviruses.

“CEPI’s funding will support the consortium as it seeks to establish preclinical and clinical proof of concept for an adjuvanted subunit vaccine designed to provide broad protection against all known Sars-CoV-2 variants of concern, as well as future variants of the virus which have not yet emerged. CEPI will fund the researchers to conduct activities including immunogen design, preclinical studies, manufacturing process development, and a Phase 1 clinical trial,” a statement read.

The strategy could also be used to enable rapid development of broadly protective vaccines against other betacoronaviruses, as well as vaccines against a so-called Disease X, or unknown pathogens that can trigger a pandemic in the future.

“As repeated waves of Covid-19 infection remind us, we will be living alongside the virus for many years to come. Our partnership with Bharat Biotech, University of Sydney and ExcellGene will advance the development of a vaccine candidate to protect against future variants of Covid-19, potentially contributing to the long-term control of the virus,” said Richard Hatchett, CEO, CEPI.