CPI receives £5m from Budget to develop 'vaccine library' for Covid-19 variants

The government is investing £5 million to support the development of an mRNA ‘vaccine library’ to help protect against new variants of Covid-19.

Announced as part of the Budget by chancellor Rishi Sunak, the funding will go to CPI, which has been working with the UK Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) since March 2020 and is currently the only UK company capable of batch developing mRNA vaccines.

The vaccine library will form the basis of a rapid response facility that can develop mRNA vaccines that protect against Covid-19 variants as they emerge.

As new variants of Covid-19 are identified, CPI will work to develop mRNA vaccines based on the variants’ DNA in a matter of days. The vaccines will be banked in a ​‘vaccine library’, ready for future manufacture and scale-up when needed

Research indicates that current vaccines will be effective against the recently identified Kent, Brazil and South African strains of the disease. However, new variants are likely to emerge that are resistant to current vaccines, meaning that more work is still needed to fight Covid-19.

CEO of CPI, Frank Millar said: ​ “We’re delighted to be a key part of the UK’s ongoing fight against coronavirus, which has had such a devastating impact over the past year. It’s essential that we prepare for a future living with the threat of Covid-19 and the library of vaccine candidates we are building here in Darlington will help future-proof against further outbreaks caused by new strains of the disease. It will mean that as soon as a new strain of Covid-19 is identified, the relevant vaccine can be selected and rapidly manufactured for use in clinical trials, in a very similar way that we see flu vaccines developed each year.”