CEPI backs $4.17M study on Ebola vaccine cross-protection against Bundibugyo
CEPI has committed $4.17 million to four research projects examining whether existing Ebola vaccines, such as Ervebo, can generate immune responses against the Bundibugyo virus. The studies will analyze stored blood samples from thousands of people previously vaccinated against Zaire ebolavirus, including recipients of the Ervebo vaccine, to determine if these vaccines could offer protection against different Ebola virus species.
This research comes as the Democratic Republic of the Congo battles an outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus that the World Health Organisation has declared the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, with 4,665 confirmed cases and 2,184 deaths across five provinces and 54 health zones. WHO also declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May. Currently, there is no licensed vaccine specifically for Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease.
Funding is allocated as follows: $2.05 million to the University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health; $1.02 million to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp; $975,000 to the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine's Centre for Human Genetics and Pandemic Sciences Institute; and $120,000 to the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. First antibody results are expected within two to six months.
Will the findings on cross-protection influence Nigeria's Ebola preparedness and vaccine stockpiling decisions?