Israel's OurCrowd leads $12 million investment to develop COVID-19 vaccine

[April 22, 2020]  TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli venture investing platform OurCrowd said on Wednesday it would lead a $12 million investment in the newly formed MigVax Corp, which plans to develop a novel COVID-19 vaccine.

MigVax, an affiliate of the Migal Galilee Research Institute, is pioneering the effort to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, OurCrowd said. It has previously developed a vaccine against infectious bronchitis virus, a coronavirus strain which causes bronchial disease affecting poultry.

"We are now working to adjust our generic vaccine system to COVID-19," said David Zigdon, CEO of Migal. "Using a fermentation process, MigVax aims to have the material ready for clinical trials within a few months."

(Reporting by Steven Scheer)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.