MilliporeSigma, BCM, and the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development are optimizing the production process to advance two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including the CoV RBD219-N1 vaccine candidate, which is expected to enter clinical trials later this year. CoV RBD219-N1 was originally developed to target SARS in 2011-2016, according to the companies.

The new candidates are based on key findings from their ongoing collaboration on a schistosomiasis vaccine. The teams will work together to improve the manufacturing platform for CoV RBD219-N1 and develop an entirely new manufacturing platform for a second COVID-19 vaccine.

MilliporeSigma aims to accelerate the suitability of the candidates for large-scale manufacturing, according to the companies.

Researchers from the Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development first formed a partnership with MilliporeSigma's process development scientists and biomanufacturing engineers in 2018 to advance vaccine development and production and enhance the response to outbreaks, such as COVID-19.