The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
£20m boost for race to find virus vaccine
Government cash invested in global research effort
Infectious disease experts will use £20 million of UK Government investment to embark on an ambitious six-month plan to produce a coronavirus vaccine.
Health Secretary Matthew Hancock said today the government would plough fresh money into developing a vaccine to combat the deadly global disease.
The investment will go to CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), a global body that is aiming to fast-track a vaccine within six to eight months.
CEPI chief executive Dr Richard Hatchett said such a tight timescale was “unprecedented”.
If the biologists are successful, more time would still be required to test the vaccine more widely and secure sign-off from medical regulators before it could be distributed across the world.
Dr Hatchett said: “This is an extremely ambitious timeline – indeed, it would be unprecedented in the field of vaccine development.
“It is important to remember that even if we are successful – and there can be no guarantee – there will be further challenges to navigate before we can make vaccines more broadly available.”
The UK’s £20 million will go towards funding the efforts of Dr Kate Broderick, a 42-year-old Dunfermline woman based in California, who is sleeping just two hours a night as she works around the clock to create a coronavirus vaccine.
“We have the opportunity to save some lives on the basis that we do this as fast as we can,” Dr Broderick, a molecular geneticist who works for the pharmaceutical company Inovio, told the Times.
The coronavirus outbreak, confirmed to be a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation, has claimed more than 300 lives since the first cases were diagnosed in China.
Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in countries worldwide, including Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan, as well as in the UK.
The number of confirmed cases of infection increased to 14,380 at the weekend within China alone, while two people, a University of York student and their relative, are being treated for the infection in the UK.
Eleven more evacuees arrived back in the UK last night from the Wuhan region of China to join 83 people who are in quarantine on Merseyside.
Announcing investment into stemming the spread of the virus, Mr Hancock said: “Vaccines are our best defence against a host of deadly diseases, including coronavirus.
“The UK is a hub of world-leading and pioneering research, and it is vital that we lead the way in developing new vaccines to target global threats with scientists from across the world.
“The £20 million announced today will help our globally recognised vaccine development capabilities continue to develop new defences against emerging diseases, including coronavirus.”
Dr Hatchett said the government funding came at a “crucial moment” in the fight against the spread of coronavirus.
“The rapid global spread and unique epidemiological characteristics of the virus are deeply concerning,” he said.
“Our hope is that, with our partners, we can get an investigational vaccine from gene sequencing of the pathogen through to clinical testing in 16 weeks.
“The earliest stage of phase one clinical trials, to establish the safety of investigational vaccines, would take around two to four months.”