CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Codiak BioSciences announced the latest funding award under CEPI’s US$200m programme to advance the development of vaccines that provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 (including its variants) and other Betacoronaviruses.

CEPI will provide seed funding of up to US$2.5 million to Codiak BioSciences—a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, MA, USA—to continue the advancement of vaccine candidates from its pan Betacoronavirus program through preclinical studies.

Codiak’s proprietary exoVACC TM platform leverages engineered exosomes—naturally occurring, extracellular nanoparticle vesicles—to precisely control antigen display on the surface or in the lumen, in order to deliver antigens, adjuvants and immunomodulators selectively to antigen-presenting cells to maximize immune response.

Codiak’s pan Betacoronavirus vaccine construct carries the receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein of both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 at high density on the surface of the exosome, combined with structurally constrained, highly conserved T-cell antigens expressed in the lumen, and stable loading of a STING agonist. This design closely resembles the natural viral structures, and these engineered exosomes stimulate a broad immune response comprising both antibody and T-cell-mediated immunity.

Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI said: “The COVID pandemic is not over and the R&D job is not done. We’ve seen extraordinary advances in vaccinology over the past couple of years. Now we need to build on these advances, so we can strengthen our defenses against the SARS-CoV-2 and stay one step ahead of it, and other coronavirus threats. Initiating the development of broadly protective coronavirus vaccines should be an integral part of the world’s long-term strategy out of this pandemic. Their development will ensure that we’re ready for future SARS-CoV-2 mutations before they emerge and enable us to neutralize the threat posed by other more deadly Betacoronaviruses, like SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV, once and for all”.

Sriram Sathyanarayanan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Codiak said: “We are incredibly honored to be recognized by an organization as well-respected as CEPI and grateful for their partnership, which we anticipate will fund the completion of preclinical development and identification of a clinical candidate for our pan Betacoronavirus program. We realize that collaboration is essential to meet the challenge of coronaviruses, current and future, and are thrilled to be working with both CEPI and the Ragon Institute, whom we partnered with to identify and source optimal T-cell epitopes that are highly conserved and invariant across all Betacoronaviruses to engineer into our vaccine candidates. It’s our hope these and future alliances yield a vaccine approach that can forge a path out of the current coronavirus pandemic, while also buttressing future outbreaks.”