Pitt part of international effort to develop covid-19 vaccine
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The Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is investing $4.9 million in a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh and others to develop a covid-19 vaccine.
The consortium that includes Pitt is led by the Pasteur Institute in Paris and includes Themis, an Austrian bioscience company.
CEPI funding will support preclinical testing, initial manufacture of vaccine materials, and preparatory work for phase 1 studies. The coalition has invested $29.2 million in covid-19 vaccine research and development.
The investment is the result of calls for funding proposals CEPI issued in early February for proven vaccine technology that could be used to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine.
“It is our mandated role to respond rapidly to global outbreaks such as covid-19,” said Paul Duprex, director of Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research.
“All of our efforts will be directed to address this rapidly changing public health emergency. We are delighted to be part of this multinational, world-class consortium.”
Duprex’s lab at Pitt already has samples of the virus for use in developing a vaccine. In February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved Pitt’s requests to be among U.S. academic labs guiding the research against the potentially fatal disease.
The university has a 146-employee biocontainment laboratory designed for modeling such viruses, including Level 3 pathogens such as the avian flu, and is well equipped to do the work safely and effectively, he said.