A biologics and pharmaceuticals firm which employs 114 people in North Staffordshire has been awarded €3 million funding to help support emergency research and development against the coronavirus outbreak.
Keele University Science Park-based Cobra Biologics and the Karolinksa Instituet - a world-leading medical university in Sweden - have teamed up in an attempt to develop a vaccine to COVID-19.
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The organisations, which are part of the OPENCORONA consortium, have been awarded the emergency funding by Horizon 2020 for research and development and a phase one clinical trial testing of a DNA vaccine against coronavirus.
The aim of the project is to manufacture a DNA vaccine, which will be delivered to patient muscle to generate a viral antigen on which the immune system then reacts.
To date, no approved human COVID-19 immunotherapy or vaccine exists and if the consortium is successful in developing the vaccine, the first trials in humans will begin in 2021 at the Karolinska University Hospital.
Peter Coleman, chief executive at Cobra Biologics  - which employs a further 91 staff in Sweden - said: "The partners within the OPENCORONA consortium are all industry experts, with the expertise, track record and belief to deliver a successful outcome.
"Cobra is privileged to have been invited to participate and contribute to fight against COVID-19, as this virus continues to impact the globe exponentially."
Matti Sällberg, head of department of laboratory medicine at the Karolinska Institutet, said: "The need to find an effective vaccine is urgent and we are working as quickly as possible to find one. With this funding from the EU we will have secured a significant part of the financing going forward, which means that we can focus entirely on the research.
"It is a relief to know that we are now financed all the way to studies in humans."
