GV wagers on seasoned team's intranasal 'temporary' preventative approach to viruses — with ex-Gilead CEO John Martin jumping on board
Last May, during the first lockdown in Europe, Koenraad Wiedhaup found himself in a socially distanced meeting with Jaap Goudsmit, Ronald Brus and Dinko Valerio.
The trio had worked together at Crucell and created a vaccine platform that J&J has made its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine on, a decade after the pharma giant inked a $2.4 billion buyout. Impressed with the speed of vaccine development, the group however pondered if future pandemics called for a different kind of product: a nasal spray that can protect people from a whole range of viruses for a few days, before vaccines become available or when they need to venture out to a particularly risky situation.
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