The provincial government has announced $15-million to help fund VIDO’s Centre for Pandemic Research on the University of Saskatchewan campus, contingent on the federal government adding $45-million to the pot. Premier Scott Moe says COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of Canada being a leader in research, development and production of new vaccines. He notes that VIDO has made world-first breakthroughs in vaccine and disease research, most recently with the ongoing development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Centre would include an upgrade to Level 4 containment facilities. Right now, the only Level 4 facility in Canada is in Winnipeg. It would also include critical animal housing for multiple species, which significantly reduces the time required to advance vaccine development to human clinical trials. VIDO’s Director, Dr. Volker Gerdts, says the animal facility would be for the animals from which these new diseases are emerging and jumping to humans. Gerdts says the Centre would benefit all Canadians, all of Saskatchewan and our livestock because their research would be on both human and animal diseases.
If the funding comes through, VIDO could build on its existing infrastructure on campus. VIDO is also currently building a manufacturing facility that could produce up to 40-million vaccine doses per year and it’s expected to be completed by late this year.
Gerdts adds that Canada was the first in Canada to isolate the COVID-19 virus, the first in the country to have an animal model established which allows testing vaccines, and are not the first University lab in Canada to have a vaccine in clinical trials. Gerdts says their vaccine is in Phase 1/Phase 2 trials.
The province’s $15-million is on top of the $4.2-million announced last year to support the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and to help with constructing a new small-scale manufacturing facility which is expected to be completed later this year. The government also funded $3.8-million in the 2019-20 fiscal year and $4.1-million in the current fiscal year.
