British drugmaker GSK to collaborate with CEPI in effort to develop coronavirus vaccine

Feb 3 (Reuters) - British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc
is collaborating with the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to contribute towards the effort
of developing a vaccine for the coronavirus outbreak, GSK and
CEPI said on Monday.

GSK will make its "adjuvant platform technology" available
for developing a vaccine against the 2019-nCoV virus, according
to the statement.

The use of adjuvant allows for production of more vaccine
doses and hence would increase availability to more people.

GSK will engage with entities funded by the CEPI with the
first of these agreements having been signed between the British
drugmaker and Australia's University of Queensland, the
statement added.

The fast-moving flu-like virus has killed more than 300
people in China, spread to more than two dozen countries and
caused the world's second largest economy to be hit by travel
curbs and business shut-downs.

There is currently no vaccine available against the
coronavirus but several organisations including CEPI, a
public-private body based in Norway, are working at developing
one.

France's Pasteur Institute Foundation said on Friday it had
set up a task force aimed at developing a vaccine against the
virus in 20 months while Germany's research minister said she
expected a vaccine to be developed within "a few months".

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru
Editing by Chris Reese)