Bharat Biotech to get CEPI funding for development of ‘variant-proof’ COVID vaccine
CEPI will fund the researchers to conduct activities including immunogen design, preclinical studies, manufacturing process development and a Phase 1 clinical trial.
- May 10, 2022,
- Updated May 10, 2022 7:12 PM IST
Indian biotechnology company and maker of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, Bharat Biotech will receive funding of up to $19.3 million for development of a ‘variant-proof’ SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics.
Bharat Biotech will receive funding from CEPI as a part of an international multidisciplinary consortium that will also comprise of the University of Sydney, Australia and Biotechnology company ExcellGene SA, Switzerland.
The CEPI on Tuesday announced the latest award under its $200 million programme to advance the development of vaccines 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.
“As repeated waves of COVID-19 infection remind us, we will be living alongside the virus for many years to come. The threat of a new variant emerging that might evade the protection of our current vaccines is real, so investing in research and development (R&D) for variant-proof SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is a global health security imperative. 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,” Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said.
The CEPI said that the world has made great advances in vaccine development against COVID-19, but variants of concern will continue to pose a threat to this progress as long as the virus continues to circulate. Vaccines have dramatically altered the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in countries that have access to them, but emerging variants that are more transmissible, more deadly, and/or can evade the protection provided by current vaccines could create significant challenges. Developing novel vaccines that target multiple variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have the potential to generate immunity against all of them is therefore essential for the long-term control of the virus, CEPI said.
“Bharat Biotech has successfully commercialised a universal COVID-19 vaccine for adults and children. While current generation of vaccines are safe and effective, against currently known variants, it is imperative that we focus on innovation for multi-epitope vaccines, where a single vaccine can protect against all future variant,” Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said.
CEPI said that as illustrated by COVID-19, coronaviruses have devastating pandemic potential. The emergence of a coronavirus combining the transmissibility of COVID-19 with the lethality of SARS or MERS would be catastrophic, so developing vaccines that provide broad protection against the whole betacoronavirus genus is vital to our global health security.
“Our technological platform for innovative protein designs was used in the past to identify and manufacture an antigen for an Ebola candidate vaccine, resulting in sterilising immunity in pre-clinical challenge models. For the current COVID-19 project we are using similar approaches to generate numerous antigen preparations derived from spike protein variants of SARS-CoV-2, focussing eventually on the most promising antigen for vaccine purposes. Obtaining funding and scientific advice from CEPI to further our ongoing collaborations with the University of Sydney and Bharat Biotech is an exciting and most gratifying perspective and will, we hope, contribute towards the science for this and other novel protein-based vaccines,” said Maria J. Wurm, CEO, ExcellGene.
The award announced on Tuesday is the ninth programme to be funded by CEPI to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants and other betacoronaviruses. This work forms an important part of CEPI’s next 5-year plan which aims to reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics.
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Indian biotechnology company and maker of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, Bharat Biotech will receive funding of up to $19.3 million for development of a ‘variant-proof’ SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics.
Bharat Biotech will receive funding from CEPI as a part of an international multidisciplinary consortium that will also comprise of the University of Sydney, Australia and Biotechnology company ExcellGene SA, Switzerland.
The CEPI on Tuesday announced the latest award under its $200 million programme to advance the development of vaccines 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.
“As repeated waves of COVID-19 infection remind us, we will be living alongside the virus for many years to come. The threat of a new variant emerging that might evade the protection of our current vaccines is real, so investing in research and development (R&D) for variant-proof SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is a global health security imperative. 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,” Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said.
The CEPI said that the world has made great advances in vaccine development against COVID-19, but variants of concern will continue to pose a threat to this progress as long as the virus continues to circulate. Vaccines have dramatically altered the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in countries that have access to them, but emerging variants that are more transmissible, more deadly, and/or can evade the protection provided by current vaccines could create significant challenges. Developing novel vaccines that target multiple variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have the potential to generate immunity against all of them is therefore essential for the long-term control of the virus, CEPI said.
“Bharat Biotech has successfully commercialised a universal COVID-19 vaccine for adults and children. While current generation of vaccines are safe and effective, against currently known variants, it is imperative that we focus on innovation for multi-epitope vaccines, where a single vaccine can protect against all future variant,” Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said.
CEPI said that as illustrated by COVID-19, coronaviruses have devastating pandemic potential. The emergence of a coronavirus combining the transmissibility of COVID-19 with the lethality of SARS or MERS would be catastrophic, so developing vaccines that provide broad protection against the whole betacoronavirus genus is vital to our global health security.
“Our technological platform for innovative protein designs was used in the past to identify and manufacture an antigen for an Ebola candidate vaccine, resulting in sterilising immunity in pre-clinical challenge models. For the current COVID-19 project we are using similar approaches to generate numerous antigen preparations derived from spike protein variants of SARS-CoV-2, focussing eventually on the most promising antigen for vaccine purposes. Obtaining funding and scientific advice from CEPI to further our ongoing collaborations with the University of Sydney and Bharat Biotech is an exciting and most gratifying perspective and will, we hope, contribute towards the science for this and other novel protein-based vaccines,” said Maria J. Wurm, CEO, ExcellGene.
The award announced on Tuesday is the ninth programme to be funded by CEPI to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants and other betacoronaviruses. This work forms an important part of CEPI’s next 5-year plan which aims to reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics.
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