Vir receives new $10M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Vir Biotechnology announced that it received a new $10M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support Vir‘s novel T cell vaccine development program. The new grant will support the Phase 1 clinical development of VIR-1388, an investigational novel T cell vaccine for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus. Using applied learnings from VIR-1111, Vir’s initial investigational proof-of-concept HIV T cell vaccine, VIR-1388 is designed to elicit T cells that recognize different HIV epitopes with the goal of creating a safe and effective HIV vaccine. Through close scientific partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the Phase 1 trial of VIR-1388 is expected to begin in the second half of 2023. The trial will also be funded in part by NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, through grant funding to HVTN. NIAID has provided funding throughout the product development lifecycle of VIR-1388. "Vir’s long-standing support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been a formative part of our company history in global health," said Rajesh Gupta, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Vice President, Global Health Portfolio and Public-Private Partnerships at Vir Biotechnology. "This new grant underscores the importance of our goal of developing innovative solutions for the prevention and treatment of global infectious diseases, including HIV. We look forward to advancing VIR-1388 into the clinic later this year."