The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has signed an agreement with Clover Biopharmaceuticals Australia, a subsidiary of China-based Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals, to support the development of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
Under the deal, CEPI will provide $3.5m funding support to prepare and launch a Phase I trial of Clover’s protein-based Covid-19 S-Trimer vaccine in Australia.
The vaccine is based on Clover’s Trimer-Tag vaccine technology platform, which can generate the novel coronavirus’ spike proteins in a native trimeric form for use in a vaccine.
Clover said that the company can use its in-house biomanufacturing capabilities to rapidly scale up the production of the vaccine, if successful in human trials.