VIDO receives $6 million for work on COVID-19 vaccines

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has received approximately CAN$6 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

This is CEPI’s first ever award to a Canadian university. The award is part of CEPI’s $200-million program to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against COVID-19 variants and other coronaviruses.

CEPI is a leading global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines against future epidemics. CEPI’s global membership has representation from all continents and includes public, private, philanthropic and civil society organizations.

VIDO’s funding will be used to establish proof of concept for new vaccines that are broadly protective against COVID-19 variants and are suitable for use in low- and middle-income countries. The platform involves identifying vaccine targets, vaccine formulation, manufacturing process development and preclinical testing. It can also be adapted to develop vaccines for other coronaviruses as well as future high-consequence infectious diseases that have yet to emerge.

Partnering in the project is the Vaccine Formulation Institute (VFI) in Switzerland. VFI developed the Sepivac SWE™ adjuvant in collaboration with its industrial partner Seppic (a company of Air Liquide group).

This project builds on COVID-19 research funded by the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan through Innovation Saskatchewan. VIDO’s COVID-19 vaccine, COVAC-2, is formulated with Sepivac SWE™ and is currently in clinical trials.

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