Global coalition to fast-track three vaccines targeting Ebola outbreak with $62 million in funding

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on Signal at hbranswell.01.

With no licensed vaccines available to protect against the Ebola virus currently spreading in Democratic Republic of Congo, efforts are underway to fast-track development of at least three vaccines. But even with infusions of cash to help fund the work, it is likely to be months before clinical trials of vaccines that specifically target the Bundibugyo ebolavirus can begin.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced Monday that it is providing three entities with roughly $62 million in funding to help manufacture and test Bundibugyo vaccines. The only licensed Ebola vaccine, Merck’s Ervebo, targets the Zaire ebolavirus.

Bundibugyo virus has rarely caused outbreaks in the past; only two previous epidemics, in 2007 and 2012, have been recorded. Because it has been so infrequently seen, work to develop vaccines and therapeutics to use against this particular form of Ebola has trailed development of tools to combat other filoviruses — the family to which Ebola belongs — such as Sudan ebolavirus or Marburg, a separate virus that triggers disease similar to that caused by Ebola viruses.