The first round of Covid-19 vaccines is ‘highly unlikely to be a magic bullet,’ Medicago CEO says

Earlier this week, a Canadian company called Medicago struck two deals to supply its plant-based technology to other companies in hopes of developing a Covid-19 vaccine. The agreements with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Dynavax (DVAX) drew attention to a company that, although partly owned by Philip Morris International, has had a relatively low profile, despite its novel approach. The privately held entity uses a virus-like particle, or VLP, grown in a close relative of the tobacco plant to produce one of the three spike proteins found in Covid-19. The plan is to marry its VLP to an adjuvant, with the goal of providing vaccine doses to the greatest number of people. We spoke with Medicago chief executive Bruce Clark about its approach, as well as the challenges in finding a vaccine to combat Covid-19 and satisfying global demand. This is an edited version of our conversation…