Ebola vaccine candidate gets $16.5m CEPI backing

An Egyptian pharmaceutical firm is developing a potential vaccine against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with up to $16.5 million in backing from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Minapharm and CEPI said in a joint statement on Thursday that the funding would support work on a candidate vaccine designed by ProBioGen, Minapharm's Berlin-based subsidiary.

The money is intended to take the vaccine through laboratory stages and into a Phase 1 clinical trial, a small human study to assess safety and immune response. The trial is expected to take place in Africa.

The Bundibugyo outbreak in DR Congo has had more than 5,600 confirmed cases and more than 2,700 deaths since it was declared on May 15. Minapharm and CEPI said there are no specific vaccines or treatments for Bundibugyo.

CEPI is funding four other Bundibugyo vaccine candidates, developed by Moderna, the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India, Hilleman and Public Health Vaccines.

Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said a vaccine candidate advanced by an African company was the kind of capability the continent needed for the current outbreak and future health threats.

The World Health Organization has also recommended a full-scale human trial in DR Congo of Ervebo, the only existing approved Ebola vaccine, to test whether it offers cross-protection against Bundibugyo. Ervebo is approved for the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, and WHO experts said early data, including animal trial data, indicated it may offer some protection against Bundibugyo.