Grants and Contributions

To be eligible to the competition, applications must be co-led by Canadian and African researchers and address all objectives:

• Provide rapid evidence to inform clinical and health system management and public health response, and/or decision-making and planning within and across jurisdictions in Canada and internationally;
• Undertake robust, multi-country cross learning, and comparative research (including in collaboration with other international researchers where appropriate) on:
o the safety and real-world effectiveness of medical or other countermeasures deployed* (including vaccines and therapeutics) to treat and/or prevent monkeypox infections in people in Canada and globally; and
o the underlying serological histories and transmission dynamics of the current monkeypox outbreaks in Canada and globally (including time of exposure and transmission during asymptomatic phase, mechanisms of human-to-human transmission, and key risk factors for infection and transmission);
• Align with and contribute to the WHO Global Clinical Platform for monkeypox and other international monkeypox surveillance and research coordination activities by:
o adopting WHO case investigation and reporting forms;
o developing robust study protocols that can be integrated and harmonized with international clinical datasets; and
o contributing to global real-time sharing and analyses of research findings across different study contexts
*Please note that medical countermeasures against monkeypox (including vaccines, drugs and other therapeutic agents) will not be provided by the Government of Canada for research supported through this funding opportunity.

To be eligible to the competition, applications must be co-led by Canadian and African researchers and address all objectives:

• Provide rapid evidence to inform clinical and health system management and public health response, and/or decision-making and planning within and across jurisdictions in Canada and internationally;
• Undertake robust, multi-country cross learning, and comparative research (including in collaboration with other international researchers where appropriate) on:
o the safety and real-world effectiveness of medical or other countermeasures deployed* (including vaccines and therapeutics) to treat and/or prevent monkeypox infections in people in Canada and globally; and
o the underlying serological histories and transmission dynamics of the current monkeypox outbreaks in Canada and globally (including time of exposure and transmission during asymptomatic phase, mechanisms of human-to-human transmission, and key risk factors for infection and transmission);
• Align with and contribute to the WHO Global Clinical Platform for monkeypox and other international monkeypox surveillance and research coordination activities by:
o adopting WHO case investigation and reporting forms;
o developing robust study protocols that can be integrated and harmonized with international clinical datasets; and
o contributing to global real-time sharing and analyses of research findings across different study contexts
*Please note that medical countermeasures against monkeypox (including vaccines, drugs and other therapeutic agents) will not be provided by the Government of Canada for research supported through this funding opportunity.

Development of a vaccine against avian flu.

This project will support a Phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to test the effectiveness of a lung-directed immunomodulator on immune response, restoration of innate immunity and/or reduction of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in a test population of adults 65 years of age or older in long term care or assisted living facilities.

Providence Therapeutics intends to continue the clinical development of a made-in-Canada mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. The firm is expecting to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial on PTX-COVID19-B in mid-2023 and pursue market or emergency approvals to commercialize in late 2023 or early 2024. The objective of this project is to facilitate the company's R&D efforts and vaccine development program to begin a Phase 3 clinical trial in 2023.

Optimization of ultra-stable formulation for viral vectored vaccine, compatible with oral dosing

Entos has developed Covigenix VAX-001, a DNA Proteo-Lipid Vehicle (PLV) vaccine intended for the prevention of COVID-19 infection by SARS-CoV-2. In this project, Entos will advance the VAX-001-1c bivalent vaccine candidate through Phase 3 clinical trials to establish its safety and immunogenicity in healthy adults as a booster to approved vaccines.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global supply of nucleic acid products including mRNA and plasmid DNA and delivery vehicles such as lipid nanoparticles which have been demonstrated to be important tools for outbreak management predominately via a mass vaccination approach. The time to market for these products is hindered by complexities in production, production processes, analytical methods, and complicated supply chain, intellectual property landscape and quality management systems.

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of customs administrations. The WCO currently has 177 member governments. A member of the WCO, Canada has taken a key role in areas such as trade facilitation, revisions to the Harmonized System, capacity building, combating counterfeiting and the development and implementation of the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE). Canada’s contribution to the WCO advances its interests internationally, particularly given the importance of international trade for the Canadian economy.

To be eligible to the competition, the application must address ALL objectives; the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• Include a large and robust serosurveillance study of children and youth that can inform research to understand the current state of natural and vaccine-based immunity in this population, and measures to best protect this vulnerable population in Canada;
• Harmonize data collection, and improve open and real-world data sharing with relevant knowledge-users in an accessible, useful and relevant format to support a timely and effective COVID-19 public health response within and across all jurisdictions in Canada as it relates to children and youth;
• Collaborate across Sites to establish resource and data sharing policies, increase efficiencies in research and related processes (including but not limited to ethics review; privacy considerations; contracts; informed-consent; common protocols; developing applications for trial funding; and consistent and valid patient-oriented outcomes), reduce duplication, and maximize research and surveillance activities related to COVID-19 infection and/or vaccination consequences of children and youth;
• Generate research evidence related to COVID-19 infection in diverse children and youth populations, including (but not limited to):
o Equity considerations;
o Health and wellness status (e.g., historically excluded or underserved populations, individuals with complex health needs and/or a disability);
o Sex and gender; and/or
o Racialized and Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, Métis and Urban Indigenous Peoples) populations; and
• Provide research evidence to inform clinical and health system management and public health response, and/or decision-making and planning within and across jurisdictions in Canada and internationally.