Coronavirus: Chinese firm Zerun Bio to get funding boost for vaccine to protect against all variants

Chinese vaccine developer Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology and its parent company Walvax will receive extra funding to advance the early stage clinical trials of a Covid-19 shot against all variants of concern, including Omicron.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations – a global foundation that funds vaccine development – made the announcement on Tuesday. CEPI said it would invest US$8.15 million to support phase 1 and 2 trials of the new vaccine to protect against multiple Covid-19 variants being developed by Zerun Bio in Mali, as well as to support a vaccine against the original coronavirus strain.

That additional funding will bring the total provided by CEPI to Zerun Bio for Covid-19 vaccine development to US$25.1 million.

The Oslo-based foundation in July said it would work with the Chinese company as part of its programme to develop next-generation Covid-19 vaccines to protect against new variants. CEPI is also supporting a recombinant protein vaccine being developed by South Korean company SK Bioscience and an intranasal Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Hong Kong.

At present, all of the Covid-19 vaccines in use around the world are based on the original coronavirus strain identified in the early stage of the pandemic. They also require booster doses as immunity wanes over time. While these vaccines still offer protection against severe Covid-19 outcomes, the variants of concern that have since emerged – such as the Delta and Omicron strains – have exposed their limitations.

The highly mutated Omicron variant has been found to be better at evading protection from vaccination and early studies have also shown there is a higher risk of reinfection. That has revived interest in developing new “universal” vaccines that could provide broader protection.