![]() ![]() In the case of the drugs, the DNA corrects genetic diseases at their source. Like those cutting-edge medicines, the experimental vaccine uses a harmless virus called adeno-associated virus to deliver DNA into the body. The experimental vaccine employs the same delivery system used in two approved gene therapies: Luxturna, a treatment developed by Philadelphia-based Spark Therapeutics for a rare inherited form of vision loss, and Zolgensma, a drug marketed by a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Novartis for spinal muscular atrophy, which kills more infants than any other inherited disorder. “These are billion-dollar plays to go all the way,” Vandenberghe said. ![]() ![]() The leaders of the effort have also approached the foundation of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, an Oslo-based foundation, about providing far greater sums to manufacture the vaccine, if it proves successful in trials. The effort involves about 55 researchers and has raised several million dollars from philanthropists besides Grousbeck and his wife, Emilia Fazzalari, chief executive of Cinco Spirits Group, according to Vandenberghe. “The timeline we’re competing against is the potential of this virus to recycle and cause another catastrophe in the fall. General Translational Research Center, who is overseeing the design of clinical studies to test the safety and effectiveness of the experimental vaccine. Mason Freeman, director and founder of the Mass. “We’re not rooting against anybody,” said Dr. They plan to test it in monkeys soon and, if it works, in healthy human volunteers by the end of the year. The experimental vaccine, which is called AAVCOVID, has produced a robust immune response in mice, they said. They are using a harmless virus as a cloak for the genetic sequence of the coronavirus. General Brigham venture are employing another approach. That vaccine entered clinical trials in Seattle in mid-March. Moderna, a biotech based in Cambridge, has another closely watched experimental vaccine that uses custom-built messenger RNA ― the genetic material that directs cells to do something ― to trigger an immune response. That collaboration has received more than $1 billion in federal and private funding. Several COVID-19 vaccine candidates have roots in Massachusetts, including a collaboration between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - another Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital ― and the drug-making arm of Johnson & Johnson. ![]()
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