The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has announced it is teaming up with Sanofi Pasteur to mix the authority’s expertise and funds with Sanofi’s egg-free, recombinant DNA platform to try and produce a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine candidate.
“Flexibility and scalability are cornerstones of rapid response to an emerging infectious disease,” BARDA Director Rick Bright said. “Using this proven technology, we can pivot immediately to address this new global health threat. Our goal is a licensed vaccine to provide long-term health security against this latest virus and prevent future coronavirus outbreaks.”
Sanofi’s platform produces an exact genetic match to proteins of a designated virus. These proteins’ DNA can then be combined with DNA from a more harmless virus to rapidly produce large quantities of antigen that spur the immune system to fend off things like, potentially, COVID-19. These antigens can then be separated and collected from cells and purified for use as working vaccine stocks for advanced development.
This is an expansion of an existing relationship, not a wholly new partnership. BARDA has worked with Sanofi since 2004 and, in 2009, another company now owned by Sanofi: Protein Sciences. With Protein Sciences, it helped develop a recombinant technology capable of quickly making millions of doses of vaccine for use during an influenza pandemic. Sanofi purchased the company in 2017 and BARDA continued working alongside it. Since 2019, their collective focus has shifted to increasing manufacturing capacity for recombinant influenza vaccine in the United States.
Currently, no approved vaccine, treatment, or diagnostic for COVID-19 infections exists. A diagnostic test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is, however, currently in use under an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.