Canada is leading the fight against COVID-19. Canadian companies are working side-by-side with the Canadian Federal Government in the fight against COVID-19. This battle is being attacked from multiple angles.
Some of the ways Canadians companies are attempting to lead the fight against COVID-19 include working on the development of a vaccine, enhancing the support for health care and front line workers, manufacturing new and advanced personal protective equipment (PPE), and designing an all-new protective surface coating which kills the virus on contact.
Russia has even attempted to steal Canadian research and intellectual property from Canadians working on a COVID-19 vaccine.
Let’s take a look at some of the companies working on making a difference in the fight against COVID-19.
Vaccines
A Nova Scotia laboratory working on a vaccine for COVID-19 has been given the green light from Health Canada to proceed with its plan for human trials.
“We’re putting all the pieces together to get this done,” says Marianne Stanford, the vice-president of research and development of IMV Inc.
IMV is a biopharmaceutical company with labs in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV) at Dalhousie University has also received approval from Health Canada to conduct the country’s first clinical trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine.
Named Ad5-nCoV, the vaccine strain uses another virus that has been altered to not infect humans. It expresses a COVID-19 antigen on its surface called the ‘spike protein’, according to CCfV director Scott Halperin.
New Coating in Development
Meanwhile, researchers out of the University of Waterloo are working on a surface coating that would kill the virus that causes COVID-19 on contact.
The coating could be used on personal protective equipment and high-touch surfaces to help reduce community transmission.
The research is being done by the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) out of the university, and in collaboration with SiO2 Innovation Labs.
See more information on this new coating by visiting the University of Waterloo blog.
To learn about how BioLife Sciences is working on to help combat COVID-19, please click here.
