Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) officials said the organization has expanded its partnership with SK bioscience to develop a vaccine to combat SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern.
The agreement calls for CEPI to earmark up to $173.4 million for SK bioscience’s to COVID-19 vaccine development program, indicating $41 million of the allotment would provide a forgivable loan repayable based on vaccine sales and used to secure raw materials needed for manufacturing.
“The whole world is at risk of the emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants,” CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett said. “As we have seen with the B.1.1.7 and B.1.617 variants—first identified in the UK and India respectively—they can arise without notice, spread rapidly, and cause tremendous disruption. Many of the variants of concern that we know about are rendering our vaccines less effective, so it is critical that we do not let our guards down.”
CEPI’s funding is slated to support Phase 3 clinical trials of SK bioscience’s recombinant protein vaccine candidate (GBP510). The GBP510 candidate is manufactured using a nanoparticle platform.
“It is a great pleasure to expand collaboration with CEPI advancing the GBP510 development including variants,” SK bioscience CEO Jaeyong Ahn said. “The wholehearted support of CEPI and Gates Foundation reflects the technological level and potential value of our vaccine candidate. We are also pursuing the development cooperating closely with relevant international regulatory agencies, as well as Korean pan-government support group and MFDS. To achieve the goal against the pandemic, we will continue our highest efforts for the successful development and enlarged access to the COVID-19 vaccine that can also be preventive to variants utilizing our expanded manufacturing capabilities.”