David Stobbe / StobbePhoto.ca

VIDO-InterVac at the University of Saskatchewan has been awarded nearly $830 thousand to determine the effectiveness of several antiviral compounds against COVID-19. The money is from the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and MasterCard. Testing will be done using a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection which is a model meant to mimic human infections.

VIDO-InterVac was the first in Canada to isolate SARS-CoV-2 and the first in the country to establish an animal model for testing vaccines, antivirals and therapeutics.

VIDO-InterVac is also advancing its own COVID-19 vaccine candidates, one of which has proven highly effective in ferrets. Several additional trials were planned since spring, including safety studies to prepare for human clinical trials this fall.