Oslo, Bangkok – 25 January 2022 – Today CEPI announced that it will partner with BioNet Asia – a French/Thai vaccine manufacturer and member of the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN) -providing up to $16.9 million to support preclinical studies, Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, production of necessary clinical trial material, and process and analytical development of a novel vaccine that uses multiple mRNA molecules that encode for several SARS-CoV-2 target proteins (ie, immunogens) from different variants, which could provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants. To protect the fragile mRNA molecules, they are then encapsulated into a fatty sphere, known as a lipid nanoparticle for use as a vaccine.
CEPI will support the researchers of a global and multidisciplinary consortium led by BioNet and composed of American and Thai universities (Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California-Davis and Chulalongkorn) and International Vaccine Institute, based in South Korea, as they seek to establish preclinical and clinical proof of concept studies. If shown to be successful, this platform could also be used to enable rapid development of broadly protective vaccines against other Betacoronaviruses, like MERS-CoV-2, as well as vaccines against Disease X—unknown pathogens with pandemic potential that have yet to emerge. Under the terms of the funding agreement, BioNet Asia has committed to achieving equitable access to the outputs of this project, in line with CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy.
More information available at https://100days.cepi.net/cepi-partners-with-bionet-to-expand-variant-proof-vaccine-programme/ ; https://bionet-asia.com/ ; https://bionet-asia.com/cepi-partners-with-bionet-to-expand-variant-proof-vaccine-programme/ ;
