21 Mar Madison companies still pursuing COVID-19 vaccines, saying more options needed
FluGen Researcher
Even with three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. and others possibly available soon, two UW-Madison spinoff companies continue to pursue coronavirus vaccine candidates they say could find a niche.
“That’s the way we can be really valuable, if we can provide a seasonal vaccine that can protect against both flu and COVID,” said Paul Radspinner, CEO of Madison-based FluGen, which is based on research by UW-Madison virologists Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Gabriele Neumann.
A COVID-19 vaccine being developed by UW-Madison microbiology professor Adel Talaat and his Madison startup, Pan Genome Systems, is adapted from an experimental DNA-based immunization Talaat developed for another coronavirus that infects chickens. The human version has shown promise in mice, according to a study published in February in the journal Vaccines.