US join with Sanofi to create COVID-19 Vaccine
The Trump administration is teaming up with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus disease COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Tuesday it would provide “expertise and reallocated funds” to support the vaccine’s development. Sanofi will partner up with the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority—known as BARDA—to develop a treatment using its recombinant DNA platform.
Sanofi’s technology will produce an exact genetic match to proteins of COVID-19, which will then combine with DNA from a virus harmless to humans, according to HHS. The antigens produced from this process will then stimulate the immune system to protect against the disease. The antigens will be collected and purified to be used in the vaccine’s development.
“Using this proven technology, we can pivot immediately to address this new global health threat. Our goal is a licensed vaccine to provide long-term health security against this latest virus and prevent future coronavirus outbreaks,” Rick Bright, the director of BARDA, said in a statement.
Sanofi was involved in the development of a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which was responsible for a 2002-2003 epidemic. The company did not specify when a vaccine could be available.
The development comes as leading experts last week warned that the United States could see thousands of cases of the new coronavirus and a significant surge in the spread of the virus in the coming weeks.
There has been no sign of sustained human-to-human transmission among known cases of the virus in the United States so far.
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Julie Gerberding, added that the United States must work to slow down the spread of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson also said its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will team up with BARDA to develop therapeutics for the new coronavirus.
Source: The Epoch Times