Norway based CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, has announced its seventh COVID-19 vaccine project.

CEPI will be investing an initial US$620,000 in a partnering agreement with The University of Hong Kong (HKU) to rapidly develop a vaccine candidate against COVID-19. This collaboration brings CEPI’s total investment in COVID-19 vaccine R&D to $24.3 million.

CEPI will provide initial funding to HKU to undertake preclinical testing of their vaccine candidate and will consider additional funding for further clinical testing pending results of these preclinical studies.

To date, CEPI has provided initial funding to Curevac Inc., Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc., The University of Oxford and The University of Queensland to develop COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have created a vaccine candidate using a weakened version of the flu virus and have adapted it to express the surface protein of the COVID-19 virus.