The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Danish pharmaceutical giant, announced Dec. 18 that it has committed $260 million toward the development and improvement of respiratory virus vaccines.
The research will be done by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity in partnership with experts at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The initial focus will be to make improvements to current vaccines for tuberculosis, influenza and Group A Streptococcus. While vaccines do exist for flu and TB, the goal is to make improvements to them with new research, perhaps leading to longer lasting immunity and protections.
Understanding more about how to generate immunity in a human airway could be the key leading to longer lasting and "a potentially revolutionary means to block infection and prevent airborne diseases spreading between humans," according to the release.
Finding a way to bolster immunity in the airway could not only prevent millions of deaths attributed to respiratory viruses annually, but also lessen antimicrobial resistance, which has been a growing threat to global healthcare.
"Fundamentally, designing vaccines with a focus on generating immunity in the respiratory system is a relatively unexplored area of research with astounding potential," Peter Lawætz Andersen, senior vice president of infectious diseases at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, stated in the release. "We hope that NIVI’s work can help prepare us for the next pandemic, or even help consign airborne epidemics to history."
In 2024, the company will select a leader to oversee both the research arm, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunity, and its limited liability arm, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Vaccine Accelerator.