LONDON – Human challenge specialist Open Orphan plc has raised £12 million (US$14.6 million) in a placing to accelerate development of COVID-19 challenge study models, to meet demand from vaccines and therapeutics developers worldwide.

Scaling up to manufacture a massive volume of a COVID-19 vaccine, drug or innovative device that’s still in early stage development is easier said than done, especially in a global pandemic that has the supply chain stretched beyond capacity.

Mammoth Biosciences Inc., of South San Francisco, and London-based Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) have joined forces to develop a point-of-care test to detect active COVID-19 infections using Mammoth’s CRISPR-based DETECTR platform. The two companies hope to submit an application to the U.S. FDA for emergency use of the test before the end of the year.

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