At McMaster, our researchers pivoted quickly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with most of the research coming from the newly launched Canada's Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats. This includes working on the development of home test kits, leading a national trial for plasma transfusion, and leading a trial on anti-coronavirus therapies.
A great deal of work is being done across the university to innovate respiratory ventilators and N95 masks. Thanks to funding from CIHR and CFI, my own lab is currently studying SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis.
This pandemic has exposed significant gaps in Canada's domestic biomanufacturing capacity. While important steps are being taken to correct this imbalance in the future, we believe action can be taken now to ensure that Canada can produce its own vaccines without the need to solely rely on international partners.
McMaster is home to the Robert E. Fitzhenry Vector Laboratory. Founded 17 years ago, this biomanufacturing facility is currently producing a made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine which, pending approval, will be ready for clinical trials in the spring. This second-generation vaccine candidate has been designed to provide broader anti-coronavirus immunity to aid in protection against the variants and potential future pandemic coronaviruses. The research into this vaccine candidate is Canadian, the IP is Canadian, and we hope that production will be Canadian.
Investment will be key to growing Canada's vaccine manufacturing capacity. McMaster's facility could and should play a role in Canada's biomanufacturing future. With support, the facility could be upgraded in a matter of months to produce on the order of a million doses of the vaccine per production run.
McMaster University has recently partnered with the University of Saskatchewan and VIDO-InterVac to approach pandemic preparedness from a position of strength. Together we urge the government to invest in our proposals, which build on decades of excellence in infectious disease research.
I will now pass it over to my colleague, Dr. Brian Lichty, who is the director of the Robert E. Fitzhenry Vector Laboratory. He can speak more to the work being done there.