CEPI, THSTI and Panacea Biotec partner to develop broadly protective Betacoronavirus vaccines

CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, announced the latest award under its $200m programme, launched in March 2021, to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against SARS-Cov-2 variants and other Betacoronaviruses. CEPI will partner with a consortium comprised of  the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and Panacea Biotec, a research-based biopharmaceutical company and vaccine manufacturer, to develop vaccine candidates that could provide broad protection against SARS-Cov-2 variants and other Betacoronaviruses.

CEPI will provide funding of up to $12.5m to support the development of multi-epitope, nanoparticle-based vaccine candidates and advance the manufacturing process. Through this research programme, THSTI and Panacea Biotec will design and select the lead antigen through proof-of-concept preclinical studies, and undertake initial clinical development through Phase I/II studies as they seek to establish clinical proof of concept for novel vaccine candidates to provide broad protection against MERS, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.