Biotechnology company Chimeron Bio announced on Monday that it entered into a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to evaluate the potential of its lead vaccine candidate CB-106 for COVID-19.

As part of the collaboration with George Mason University, Chimeron's CB-106's preliminary data demonstrated positive results in pre-clinical models with nanogram quantities of RNA, a dose advantage over other RNA based technologies.

CB-106 reportedly delivers the Spike gene as self-amplifying mRNA, added Chimeron.

Pursuant to the agreement, Chimeron Bio will utilize the pre-clinical services programme offered by the NIAID.

In conjunction with the partnership, Chimeron Bio will provide the vaccine candidate to test in the hamster model of COVID-19, which has been used for the assessment of other COVID-19 vaccines.