(Reuters) – Gritstone bio on Wednesday secured a $433 million contract by the U.S. government to conduct a mid-stage study of its self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The agreement comes as a part of the “Project NextGen,” an initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to advance a pipeline of new, innovative vaccines and therapeutics providing broader and more durable protection against COVID-19 infection.
The contract is awarded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a U.S. federal agency that funds disease-fighting technology.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
