Harvard University and the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health will collaborate to fight COVID-19 over the next five years in an effort funded by $115 million. The funding was provided by China Evergrande Group. The researchers plan to elucidate the basic biology of the virus, which will be used to design therapeutics/vaccines, develop accurate rapid diagnostics and identify biomarkers. The effort will include Harvard Medical School researchers, led by Dean George Q. Daley, along with Dr. Nanshan Zhong of the Guangzhou Institute, a pulmonologist and epidemiologist who heads China's 2019n-CoV Expert Taskforce. Dr. Zhong discovered the SARS vaccine in 2003.

The work will also include Harvard's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, which will serve as the clearing house for information developed by the researchers. In 2014, the Public Health school was renamed to honor Mr. Chan after his son, Gerald Chan, PhD and graduate of the school, shepherded a $350 million gift to the school from the family's Morningside Foundation. Dr. Chan said his father, who developed a large real estate business in Hong Kong, believed in the value of education and paid for many students to attend higher education institutions.

“We are confident that the collaboration of Harvard and Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health will contribute valuable discoveries to this worldwide effort,” said Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow. “We are grateful for Evergrande’s leadership and generosity in facilitating this collaboration and for all the scientists and clinicians rising to the call of action in combating this emerging threat to global well-being.”

“Evergrande is honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the fight against this global public health threat,” said Hui Ka Yan, chair of the China Evergrande Group. “We thank all the scientists who responded so swiftly and enthusiastically from the Harvard community and are deeply moved by Harvard and Dr. Zhong’s team’s dedication and commitment to this humanitarian cause. We have the utmost confidence in this global collaborative team to reach impactful discoveries against the outbreak soon.”

While formal details of the collaboration are being finalized, the main areas of investigation will include:

• Rapid, more accurate diagnostic tests, including point-of-care testing;
• Understanding the body’s immune response and host-pathogen interaction, including identification of biomarkers that can help monitor the infection course and disease progression and forecast the onset of critical illness and life-threatening complications among infected patients;
• Vaccines to prevent infection;
• Antiviral therapies that shorten the duration of the illness and mitigate symptoms among those infected;
• Treatments for those with severe disease.

“We are extremely encouraged by the generous gesture from Evergrande to coordinate and support the collaboration and by the overwhelmingly positive response from our Harvard colleagues,” said Guangdong's Dr. Zhong, “We look forward to leveraging each of our respective strengths to address the immediate and longer-term challenges and a fruitful collaboration to advance the global well-being of all people."

Harvard University Provost Alan M. Garber said outbreaks of novel infections can move quickly, with a deadly effect. “This means the response needs to be global, rapid, and driven by the best science. We believe that the partnership — which includes Harvard and its affiliated institutions, other regional and U.S.-based organizations, and Chinese researchers and clinicians at the front lines — offers the hope that we will soon be able to contain the threat of this novel virus. The lessons we learn from this outbreak should enable us to respond to infectious disease emergencies more quickly and effectively in the future.”

Disclosure: none.