PROVIDENCE – EpiVax inc. on Tuesday announced a partnership with the nonprofit GAIA Vaccine Foundation to use crowdsourcing to raise funds for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
EpiVax’s vaccine is tailored for health care workers, according to the company.
EpiVax also pledged to make a free license available to qualifying developing countries, as part of the partnership.
“The soul of each company will be revealed during this crisis, said Dr. Anne De Groot, EpiVax CEO and chief science officer. De Groot is also the founder of Providence-based GAIA foundation and serves as its scientific director.
“Personally, I do not believe this is the time to become a billionaire,” she said, “Each of us should do what we do best to reduce the impact of COVID-19 globally.”
The vaccine, named EPV-CoV19, is a peptide-based, epitope-driven vaccine that can be rapidly and safely produced in most countries, according to EpiVax.
The company said that the vaccine candidate will enter into U.S. clinical trials once it has raised $1.75 million for the project.
The partnership will allow individuals and foundations to donate to fund the project. Donations to the COVID-19 vaccine fund will be entirely dedicated to the preclinical and clinical development phases of EPV-CoV19, the company said.
As part of the agreement, EpiVax has granted the foundation a cost-free, royalty-free license to the EPV-CoV19 design for use in countries that can produce and test the vaccine candidate on the Least Developed Countries list published by the United Nations. EpiVax says it has identified collaborators and a clinical trial site in West Africa.
