British drugmaker GSK to collaborate with CEPI in effort to develop coronavirus vaccine

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc is collaborating with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to contribute towards the effort of developing a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak, GSK and CEPI said on Monday.

There is currently no vaccine available against the coronavirus but several organisations including CEPI, a public-private body based in Norway, are working at developing one.

France’s Pasteur Institute Foundation said on Friday it had set up a task force aimed at developing a vaccine against the virus in 20 months while Germany’s research minister said she expected a vaccine to be developed within “a few months”.

GSK will make its “adjuvant platform technology” available for developing a vaccine against the 2019-nCoV virus, according to the statement.

The use of adjuvant allows for production of more vaccine doses and hence would increase availability to more people.

GSK will engage with entities funded by the CEPI with the first of these agreements having been signed between the British drugmaker and Australia’s University of Queensland, the statement added.

The British government has donated £20 million towards a break-neck plan to produce a vaccine to combat the deadly new coronavirus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the money would help the UK lead the way in developing a new inoculation.

The total number of deaths from a coronavirus epidemic in China rose to 361 as of Sunday, up 57 from the previous day, the Chinese National Health Commission said.

The number of new confirmed infections in China rose by 2,829 on Sunday, bringing the total to 17,205.

At least another 171 cases have been reported in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Spain, Thailand, the United States and 14 other countries and regions outside mainland China.

The first death outside of China was reported on Sunday – a 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines after traveling there from Wuhan.

Chinese stock and commodity markets fell heavily at the open on Monday, in the first trading session after an extended Lunar New Year break, as investors dumped risky assets in response to rising fears about the spread of a new virus across China.

Via Reuters