An important tool created to guide vaccine development against multiple potentially deadly coronaviruses is being expanded.
The University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) will receive $3.2 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to advance an open-access coronavirus vaccine research and development (R&D) roadmap. CIDRAP monitors and evaluates research and development progress to develop effective, long-lasting, broadly protective vaccines against currently circulating coronaviruses as well as new coronaviruses and variants that may emerge in the future. promote efforts to develop
The roadmap was developed with guidance from more than 50 scientific leaders and funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation and launched in 2022. It will serve as a global strategy to coordinate the complex research efforts and investments required for more effective, long-term research and development. Reduce severe illness and death from coronaviruses, including COVID-19, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and other future coronaviruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. , vaccines available worldwide.
Key gaps and barriers in broadly protective coronavirus vaccine development, and the goals and milestones set to overcome them, include virology, immunology, vaccinology, animal and human infection models, policy and funding It has been identified in five core thematic areas:
CEPI’s new investment will monitor progress towards achieving goals and milestones, as well as support the creation of an open-access online database of the latest literature and reports related to coronavirus vaccine research.
The funding will also support an open-access online overview of all broadly protective coronavirus vaccines in preclinical and clinical development, as well as an online dashboard to track funding and investment in this area of research.
Recognizing the important global leadership role played by CEPI in accelerating research and development of coronavirus vaccines, Dr. Michael Osterholm, Regents Professor and Director of CIDRAP, said: “With the support of CEPI and collaboration with CIDRAP, “This will accelerate efforts to develop a broadly protective coronavirus vaccine.”
The world has already experienced three deadly coronavirus outbreaks and pandemics during the 21st century: SARS, MERS, and COVID-19.
Recognizing the known devastating threat and the added concern that more contagious and deadly coronaviruses may strike in the future, the World Health Organization recently announced the most likely cause of future pandemics. The new coronavirus infection and other coronaviruses are listed as part of the virus family.
As such, CEPI has broadened its focus from COVID-19 and is now introducing 10 innovative innovations designed to provide broad-based protection against additional coronaviruses, including the viruses that cause SARS and MERS. We support innovative vaccine designs and approaches. CEPI is also working to establish a “Coronavirus Vaccine Library” to store relevant coronavirus knowledge, data, and prototype versions of vaccines that could help combat the potential emergence of the new coronavirus. It started.
CEPI’s Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Development, Dr. Kent Kester, said: “COVID-19 is the third novel coronavirus to emerge in the past 20 years, and is likely to lead to further new coronaviruses with the potential for epidemics and pandemics. “This is a precursor to the emergence of the virus.” “Up-to-date information on the progress of vaccine research and coronavirus vaccine research and development will be made readily and openly available on CIDRAP’s roadmap, helping CEPI and the rest of the world to develop vaccines that provide protection against multiple coronaviruses simultaneously.” It will strengthen approaches that other scientific researchers are pursuing.”
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Note to editor
Through this new partnership with CEPI, CIDRAP will form a Coronavirus Research and Development Roadmap Steering Group and Task Force comprised of leading experts to provide guidance throughout the project period. Funding for the roadmap will be provided over three years. The Coronavirus Vaccine Research and Development Roadmap was published by CIDRAP and its co-authors in the journal Vaccine in 2023.
About CEPI
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil society organizations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biological countermeasures against infectious diseases and pandemic threats, and to make them available to all who need them. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates and platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens and future Disease X. At the heart of CEPI’s five-year plan to overcome the pandemic 2022-2026 is the “100-day mission” to compress vaccines. It takes just 100 days to develop a safe, effective, and globally available vaccine against a new threat.
About the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
CIDRAP, part of the University of Minnesota’s Office of Research and Innovation, is a global leader in public health preparedness and response to emerging infectious diseases. Founded in 2001, CIDRAP works to prevent illness and death from targeted infectious disease threats through research and the translation of scientific information into practical applications, policies, and solutions.
