The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced a new collaboration to strengthen the global effort to develop a vaccine for coronavirus.
Last week the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak an official global health emergency.
As part of the deal, GSK will make its established pandemic vaccine adjuvant platform technology available to enhance the development of an effective vaccine against the virus, which also goes by the name 2019-nCoV.
The company reminds that the use of an adjuvant is of particular importance in a pandemic situation since it can reduce the amount of antigen required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and made available to more people.
Gaining access to GSK’s “world-leading” adjuvant technology is a “huge step forward in developing a vaccine” commented Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive officer, CEPI.
He continued, “Coupling GSK’s adjuvant systems with the pioneering platform technology we are funding has the potential to make more vaccine available more rapidly – by decreasing the dose of vaccine antigen required to protect each individual. This ‘antigen-sparing’ effect makes a given supply of vaccine go farther, increasing the number of people who can benefit.”
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has also announced a “multi-pronged” response, setting out to develop a vaccine candidate to tackle the global health threat.
