Nonprofit scientific research organization IAVI announced on Wednesday that it has received USD26.7m from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to develop its recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate in partnership with Merck.

Under an agreement, DTRA will facilitate the partnership's vaccine candidate's clinical development at IAVI's Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory (DDL) in Brooklyn, New York.

The partners plan to characterize the immune responses in animals and demonstrate the safety and efficacy profile of rVSVΔG-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in animals. The nonclinical data will be essential to supplement the clinical data package and to inform the most effective use of the vaccine in an ongoing pandemic.

The partners' COVID-19 vaccine candidate, V590, is currently in preclinical development and clinical studies are planned to start this year. Merck will lead regulatory filings globally. Both will develop the vaccine and make it accessible globally, if approved.