Eyam Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics and UBC are doing preclinical studies of unique COVID-19 vaccine candidates that target variant strains.Photo via Cravetiger / Getty Images A Canadian company has announced that it is doing preclincial studies of unique COVID-19 vaccine candidates to target variant strains. Eyam Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics (EYAM) announced Monday (April 12) that it is beginning preclinical studies to test the efficacy of unique COVID-19 vaccine candidates that target SARS-CoV-2 variants, explains a news release. The preclinical testing begins to address the "urgent societal need to accelerate containment of the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants." In November 2020, EYAM entered into a licensing agreement with the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver to develop several proprietary COVID-19 vaccine candidates in a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform.