Merck and Microsoft partnerships support Australian-developed COVID-19 vaccine

Biotech News: COVAX-19 is the first Australian-developed COVID-19 vaccine to pass phase I clinical trials in Australia successfully. Phase II clinical trials are set to begin in September 2020.

Professor Nikolai Petrovsky is the Director of Endocrinology at Flinders Medical Centre, a Professor in the School of Medicine at Flinders University and the founder of Vaxine Pty Ltd, an Adelaide-based biotechnology company specialising in pandemic vaccine design.

COVAX-19 vaccine comprises a recombinant spike protein antigen formulated with Vaxine’s proprietary Advax adjuvant, which drives a potent T cell and neutralising antibody response against the target virus.

The Microsoft AI and Azure cloud capabilities will help the company accelerate clinical testing of its COVAX-19 vaccine.

“Large international Phase III vaccine trials are extraordinarily complex and generate vast amounts of data that needs to be efficiently processed”, says Vaxine Research Director, Flinders University Professor Nikolai Petrovsky.

“Supported by Microsoft technology, we aim to collect and analyse the COVAX-19 trial data in real time, rather than waiting until the end of the trial before seeing if the vaccine is working, which is the traditional process.”

Merck Life Sciences, Managing Director, Rebecca Lee, conducted a recent Q&A video interview with Professor Nikolai Petrovsky.

Merck has a long-standing relationship with Sypharma and Vaxine for more than 10 years, supporting the manufacture of Advax adjuvants with manufacturing solutions, single-use, filtration products and process development expertise.