CEPI invests $3.5M in Clover for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest $3.5 million in Clover Biopharmaceuticals Australia to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

It is CEPIʻs ninth investment in a COVID-19 vaccine. The investments total $39.6 million.

This latest investment will support Clover Australiaʻs efforts to initiate a phase 1 clinical trial in Australia of its S-Trimer vaccine candidate. This vaccine candidate is based on Cloverʻs proprietary Trimer-Tag vaccine technology platform. If successful in clinical trials, Clover can rapidly scale up the production of the vaccine.

“We are delighted to partner with Clover Australia on their innovative COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine candidate,” Richard Hatchett, CEO at CEPI, said. “They produced their vaccine within a month of the virus sequence becoming available, and they have rapidly advanced toward a first in human trial. This vaccine candidate is an important new addition to the CEPI portfolio. CEPI has invested in a diverse range of innovative vaccine platforms, as well as more established vaccine technologies, to maximise our chances of success as we pursue our ambition of making COVID-19 vaccines available for broad use.”

This investment stems from a call for proposals that CEPI issued in early February. CEPI has already provided support and funding to Curevac, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Moderna, Novavax, The University of Hong Kong, The University of Oxford, The University of Queensland, and a consortium led by Institut Pasteur to develop COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

“At Clover Biopharmaceuticals, we are proud to receive CEPI’s funding and support for Clover Australia, which are critical to enabling the ongoing development and acceleration of our COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine program that utilizes our innovative Trimer-Tag© platform technology. We have been working tirelessly and hope to contribute significantly to global efforts in fighting this pandemic that has affected us all.” Joshua Liang, chief strategy officer of Clover Biopharmaceuticals and co-inventor of COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine, said.