Novo Nordisk Launches Vaccine Initiative for Airborne Infections

In an announcement published on December 18, 2023, Novo Nordisk, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, announced its plans to allocate $260 million to research and develop vaccines for airborne infections. Through a collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and Denmark's Statens Serum Institute (SSI), the company hopes to focus on respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis (TB) and influenza.

According to the press release, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI) will spend time trying to develop first-in-kind vaccines that generate immunity in the airway.

“This is a potentially revolutionary means to block infection and prevent airborne diseases spreading between humans,” emphasized the company in the release.

To start, NIVI will research TB and group A streptococcus (GAS). Although the conditions contribute to 2.5 million deaths annually, the prevention tools are inadequate. There is no effective vaccine for GAS, and the TB vaccine cannot mitigate lung disease in adolescents and adults. Beyond those two conditions, the foundation highlights shortcomings in existing influenza vaccines, including limited coverage and short-term protection.

Despite the benefits of vaccination, many experts continue to advocate for more vaccine research to develop the next generation of respiratory virus immunizations.

The release highlights many of the NIVI’s goals and offers insight into potential methods. For example, the initiative plans to examine and evaluate vaccines side-by-side, comparing antigens, platforms, and delivery methods to understand efficacy and success.

The press release outlines other aspects of the initiative, including a commitment to combining research with vaccine development through a dual approach that includes a research arm through the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Vaccines and Immunology and a commercialization arm through the Novo Nordisk Foundation Vaccine Accelerator.

 "We are proud that we, as a faculty and university, are involved in setting up new types of initiatives specifically designed to foster translational research. One of our finest tasks as researchers and as a university is to make our research come to life and be of use, and this is what we can do with a structure like NIVI and the link-up between university and industry,” noted Dean Bente M. Stallknecht, PhD, DMSc, from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, in the release.

Editor's Note: This article has been edited to reflect that the initiative is run by the Novo Nordisk Foundation rather than the entirety of Novo Nordisk.