On Jul. 29, 2020, Intravacc and Celonic Group, a biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced that they had signed a research agreement to further design, develop and produce a Covid-19 vaccine based on an immunogenic Spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 combined with Intravacc’s prorietary Outer Membrane Vesicle (OMV) technology.

In the beginning of March this year Intravacc started working on the development of four candidate coronavirus vaccines based on three proprietary technologies: Vero cell, OMV and iBoost.

For this specific joint vaccine development, Intravacc combines its safe and immunogenic OMV delivery platform with S-proteins expressed by Celonic Group’s industry-leading CHOvolution^® mammalian cell expression sytem, in order to generate a highly effective and balanced B and T cell response against SARS-CoV-2. Swiss based Celonic Group  will construct cell lines producing the  S-protein in high quantities and develop a GMP production process. Preclinical studies will start shortly to select the best candidate protein for the vaccine. The collaboration aims to accelerate development of Intravacc’s COVID-19 OMV protein  vaccine, which is expected to enter clinical testing in 2021.