Britain's GSK joins virus battle

Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, is to work with China-based Clover Biopharmaceuticals to help develop its vaccine candidate for COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

GSK will provide Clover with its pharmacological agent (adjuvant) technology in hope that the Chinese company could potentially rapidly scale-up and produce large quantities of a new coronavirus vaccine.

Clover claims to have one of the largest commercial-scale bio-manufacturing capabilities in China, while GSK is a leader in the development of innovative vaccines using different adjuvant systems. The partnership with Clover could potentially mean supplying any vaccine more efficiently.

An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, thereby creating a stronger and longer-lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone.

Thomas Breuer, chief medical officer at GSK's vaccines business, told Bloomberg early in February that it will take at least 12 to 18 months to develop and get regulatory approval for a vaccine.

In a joint statement released by GSK and Clover this week, Breuer said: "The use of an adjuvant is of particular importance in a pandemic situation since it may reduce the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and therefore contributing to protect more people.

"We are proud to contribute to cutting-edge research from scientists at Clover Biopharmaceuticals in China as part of our strategy to make our adjuvant technology available to selected partners who have a promising vaccine candidate against the newly emerged coronavirus."

The Times reports that the collaboration is one of a number launched by drugs companies and research institutes since the coronavirus emerged toward the end of last year in China.

Earlier this month Glaxo also entered into collaboration with the University of Queensland in Australia to develop a vaccine.

Joshua Liang, chief strategy officer and board director at Clover, said Clover's S-Trimer vaccine candidate "is being rapidly developed to support global efforts in combating this current and any future coronavirus outbreaks".

Up to now, COVID-19 has infected more than 80,000 people and has caused more than 2,100 reported deaths worldwide.

GSK is among several multinational pharmaceuticals groups, including Roche and Johnson & Johnson, that are trying to bring COVID-19 under control, along with smaller bio-technology companies.

The international efforts range from research into vaccines, to running trials on existing treatments for other strains, to the supply of diagnostic tests and medical equipment.

Due to the prohibitive costs involved, the response to COVID-19 has largely been a global collaboration between private companies, governments and non-profit organizations.

This includes Cepi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a partnership launched in 2017 at Davos, which aims to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics.

Steven Gong, vice-president of business development and strategy at Clover, said: "Collaborations will be critical to accelerating the development of a successful new vaccine in times of emergency, and we continue to invite any interested regulatory, academic or industry parties to contact us for this noble common cause."