Xiamen Innovax Biotech partnered with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to use GSK's adjuvant with a vaccine Innovax is developing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovax, which is developing the vaccine with Xiamen University, is screening a series of truncated spike proteins to gather immunogenicity data. By adding GSK's AS03, the company expects to use smaller amounts of vaccine to attain immunogenicity. Last year, the two companies added another GSK adjuvant to Innovax's next-gen vaccine for Human Papillomavirus (HPV). In February, GSK struck a deal with Clover Biopharma of Chengdu to use its adjuvant with Clover's COVID-19 vaccine.

Also, GSK announced a $250 million collaboration with San Francisco's Vir Pharma to identify and test new anti-viral antibodies that could be used as therapeutic or preventative options to for COVID-19, especially VIR-7831 and VIR-7832. Vir said both molecules have demonstrated a high affinity for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The companies expect to begin Phase II testing of the therapies within the next three to five months. GSK made a $250 million equity investment in Vir.

GSK said its adjuvant has produced encouraging data for another candidate in pre-clinical testing, presumably the Clover product, and it may work with other vaccine makers as well.

Although GSK is not developing its own vaccine, the company is one of several biopharmas that have made libraries of compounds available for screening by the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative involving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The accelerator is screening the compounds for efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.

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Disclosure: none.