The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will allocate about $60 million to three organisations, including US‑based Moderna, to accelerate the development of vaccines against the deadly Bundibugyo Ebola virus strain. Currently, there are no approved vaccines or treatments for this strain, which has spread in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The largest tranche – up to $50 million – will go to Moderna to support preclinical and early‑stage clinical trials of its experimental vaccine candidate. Another $8.6 million will go to a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
A third grant of $3.2 million will go to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), whose candidate uses technology similar to Merck’s approved Zaire strain vaccine. CEPI chief executive Richard Hatchett said preparing the vaccines for trials could take just a few months.
Moderna chief executive Stéphane Bancel noted that because of the virus’s high fatality rate, the company aims to develop a vaccine that prevents disease while simplifying the dosing regimen. Whether one or two doses will be needed will be decided during the first phase of clinical trials, he said. Larger‑scale studies in Africa would follow.
According to African and global health organisations, Congo has confirmed 282 cases, 42 of them fatal, as well as about 1,100 suspected cases.
CEPI was one of the first investors that helped develop a vaccine at the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Hatchett told Reuters that preparing the Bundibugyo Ebola vaccines for trials could be done within a few months.
The prospect of vaccines becoming available “in the not‑too‑distant future” should help initiate discussions about who will buy them and fund their deployment, Hatchett said. At the same time, he warned that vaccine development could be unpredictable and that the complex security situation in eastern Congo would complicate trial implementation.
Earlier this year, CEPI also allocated $30 million to increase access to an Ebola virus vaccine, implemented by pharmaceutical giant MSD. Meanwhile, other global bodies are scaling up funding to fight Ebola. The Gavi vaccine alliance has allocated up to $50 million to combat the disease, and the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund has announced grants totalling up to $220.6 million.
