Chengdu's Clover Bio will collaborate with Dynavax (NSDQ: DVAX) to conduct pre-clinical tests of Clover's COVID-19 vaccine candidate combined with Dynavax's vaccine adjuvant, CpG 1018. Based on the genomic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Clover applied its patented Trimer-Tag© technology to produce a COVID-19 S-Trimer subunit vaccine candidate that resembles the native trimeric viral spike and prevents entry of the virus into cells. Dynavax, a Bay area biotech, will provide technical expertise along with its proprietary toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist adjuvant to support the research.

“At Clover, we are eager to begin evaluating the combination of our S-Trimer vaccine candidate and Dynavax’s CpG 1018 adjuvant, as we believe adjuvants could play an important role in developing a successful and widely-available vaccine for this pandemic,” said Joshua Liang, Chief Strategy Officer at Clover and co-inventor of COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine. “Leveraging our proprietary© Trimer-Tag technology, S-Trimer is being rapidly developed to support global efforts in combating the current and any future coronavirus outbreaks.”

CpG 1018 is already used as an adjuvant in an approved vaccine. It is part of HEPLISAV-B® (Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant), Adjuvanted), an adult hepatitis B vaccine approved for US use. CpG 1018 increased the vaccine immune response for HEPLISAV-B.

“Successfully responding to this public health emergency will require a collaborative approach, combining technologies and sharing data, to rapidly develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19,” said Ryan Spencer, CEO of Dynavax. “We are proud to contribute to this global effort with the goal of supporting rapid development and enabling large-scale manufacturing through the utilization of CpG 1018 which has already been successfully implemented in an approved, marketed vaccine in the US.”

Using Trimer-Tag© technology, S-Trimer is a trimeric SARS-CoV-2 spike (S)-protein subunit vaccine candidate. Similar to other enveloped RNA viruses such as HIV, RSV and Influenza, SARS-CoV-2 is also an RNA virus that has a trimeric spike (S) protein on its viral envelope that binds to cell surface receptor ACE2. S-Trimer resembles the native trimeric viral spike protein and is produced via a rapid mammalian cell-culture based expression system.

Clover has raised more than $100 million in total capital since 2016. Its Trimer-Tag© technology platform develops novel biologics targeting trimerization-dependent pathways. Additionally, Clover is leveraging its in-house cGMP biomanufacturing capabilities to develop select biosimilars.

See our other articles on Clover and Dynavax.

Disclosure: none.