Race to develop inhalable COVID-19 booster shines light on issues with international collaboration

In a recent article from CBC’s The Fifth Estate, journalists Scott Anderson, Rachel Ward, and Bob McKeown review an international partnership between McMaster University and China-based CanSino Biologics and how it has gone wrong. The Government of Canada had expressed hope that the previous partnership between McMaster and CanSino could lead to a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the authors explain, but the relationship stalled and the two are now independently racing to develop similar COVID-19 booster vaccines. CBC reports that there are now concerns around McMaster’s ability to market its inhaled COVID-19 vaccine due to a licensing agreement that was previously struck with CanSino on a McMaster-developed inhalable TB vaccine. Former federal public servant Margaret McCuaig-Johnston said the relationship may be “a case study of what not to do in partnerships with China.” CBC Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.