March 10, 2021 -- The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will support the development of enveloped viruslike particle (eVLP) vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 variants by VBI Vaccines (VBI).
CEPI will provide up to $33 million to support the advancement of VBI-2905, a monovalent eVLP candidate expressing the prefusion form of the spike protein from the B.1.351 strain first identified in South Africa, through phase I clinical development.
Additionally, the funding will support preclinical expansion of additional multivalent vaccine candidates designed to evaluate the potential breadth of VBI's eVLP technology. This preclinical expansion aims to develop clinic-ready vaccine candidates that can address emerging variants.