A step forward in the fight against Lassa fever

With no approved vaccine to defend against Lassa fever, people across West Africa have long been affected by outbreaks of this viral hemorrhagic disease. However, a CEPI-funded vaccine candidate against this deadly virus has taken a historical step forward this month, becoming the first-ever Lassa fever vaccine candidate to enter Phase 2 trials.     

In the study launched by IAVI, trial participants in Abuja, Nigeria, have begun receiving doses of the vaccine candidate at HJF Medical Research International. Designed in consultation with partners including Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Nigeria Lassa Vaccine Taskforce, this study aims to assess the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of IAVI’s single-dose Lassa fever vaccine candidate. Pending regulatory approval, the study also plans to recruit participants at sites in Liberia and Ghana, with a total of 600 participants expected to enrol in the study.

The outcomes and findings of this Phase 2 trial will provide much-needed data required for the vaccine’s onward path to potential licensure. CEPI’s CEO, Dr Richard Hatchett, described the launch of the new trial as “an important milestone in public health and signals that better tools to manage and prevent outbreaks are coming.”

CEPI is one of the top funders of Lassa research, with the disease a priority target for the Coalition since its launch in 2017. CEPI’s goal of getting one or more Lassa vaccines licensed for routine immunisation is supported through a diverse Lassa vaccine portfolio, as well as investments in late-stage clinical-trial planning, support for the development of Lassa fever diagnostics, and support for the Enable study, the largest ever Lassa fever study to track the true disease burden.

➡️ Learn more about the groundbreaking CEPI-backed trial   

Discover additional insight about the Enable study, and hear from Dr Donald Grant, working on Enable’s Sierra Leone site, to learn more about the impact of this ongoing multi-country study, what has already been learned along the way, and what they hope to know by the time the study is completed.

➡️ From the pain of Ebola to the passion to fight Lassa

Tackling the rise of mpox in Africa

This month, CEPI joined the High-Level Emergency regional meeting hosted by the World Health Organization, Africa CDC and the DRC Ministry of Public Health and Hygiene to discuss the increased public health threat posed by mpox and the escalating prevalence of Clade I mpox in the DRC and other African countries.  

Clade I mpox strains can be fatal in 5-10% of cases, and in the current outbreak in the DRC, children appear to account for the most infections and lives lost. The rise in the number of cases of Clade 1 follows the multi-country outbreak of the less deadly Clade 2 mpox strain in 2022.

Held in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, the meeting was an important platform for experts to come together from across Africa and globally to discuss the next steps for tackling this devastating outbreak. Key actions were laid out in a communique, signed by several Ministers of Health from across Africa. It outlines a cross-cutting approach to strengthening mpox preparedness and response efforts across the region, including accelerating R&D and regulatory processes for mpox vaccines for high-risk populations, such as children, as well as other countermeasures.

CEPI stands ready to support its partners and the new Africa Taskforce on Mpox Coordination.

➡️ Learn more

Global Summit to bolster pandemic preparedness

Taking place in Rio de Janeiro in July this year, CEPI, Brazil’s Ministry of Health and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) will co-host the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024. The two-day event, which will convene R&D experts, government officials, civil society representatives, and leaders from global health and industry, aims to reinvigorate momentum for pandemic preparedness and response.

The Summit will foster the spirit of collaboration and collective challenge needed to strengthen local and regional production capacity, deliver the 100 Days Mission, enhance global disease surveillance, and—ultimately—build a world that is better prepared to meet the challenges of viral threats swiftly and equitably.

Find out more about the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 here.

10 years on from the world’s biggest Ebola outbreak: Where are we now?

Ten years ago this month, a lethal Ebola epidemic took hold in West Africa. By the time this outbreak ended in 2016, more than 11,000 lives had been lost and over US$53 billion of economic and social damage had been inflicted.

The world’s response to this crisis fell tragically short. While Ebola vaccines had been in development for more than a decade, it was nearly a year into the epidemic before clinical trials of Ebola vaccine candidates were initiated. The VSV-EBOV Ebola vaccine demonstrated almost 100 per cent efficacy, highlighting that had it been deployed sooner, many more lives could have been saved.

CEPI was formed in the aftermath of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa to support the development of vaccines that could improve the world's preparedness against outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Today, two Ebola virus vaccines against the Zaire strain—behind the 2014-2016 outbreak—have achieved licensure and WHO prequalification, and CEPI has supported the generation of clinical trial data for both of these vaccines. This includes funding and working with regional experts to run trials to help expand access to these vaccines for vulnerable populations including people living with HIV, pregnant women, and infants.

However, the Zaire Ebolavirus is not the only Ebolavirus that is a cause for concern. It is just one of many filoviruses against which the world has yet to develop necessary countermeasures.   

➡️ Learn more about Ebolavirus and CEPI’s work to advance vaccines to defend against this deadly threat   

The Viral Most Wanted

The Poxviruses

From Smallpox to mpox, the Poxvirus family has long been a source for some of the most feared viral epidemics to have hit humankind.

Made up of more than 70 viruses, the Poxvirus family has four subgroups known to pose a risk to human populations: the Orthopoxviruses, the Parapoxviruses, the Molluscipoxviruses and the Yatapoxviruses.

➡️ Explore The Viral Most Wanted: The Poxviruses  

The Hantaviruses

The Hantavirus family includes notorious suspects such as Sin Nombre Virus and Andes Virus, both of which are members of the New World Hantavirus subgroup. Other notable culprits in the family are Seoul Virus, Hantaan Virus, Dobrava Virus, Puumala Virus and Saaremaa Virus, all of which belong to the Old World subgroup. These viruses are normally carried by rats, mice and other rodents and known to cause severe disease in people such as Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome.

➡️ Explore The Viral Most Wanted: The Hantaviruses

100 Words On… Lassa fever

Lassa fever virus—first identified in 1969 in Nigeria—is typically spread to humans by the multimammate rat. While the majority of cases are asymptomatic, those with symptoms can suffer from mild headache, fever, vomiting, swelling, and bleeding from body parts. On average, 1% of cases are fatal. Cases of Lassa fever occur regularly in West Africa and its reach may expand across the African continent and beyond as climate change and population growth exacerbate Lassa’s spread. CEPI is supporting the active development of three Lassa fever vaccine candidates, including one which has entered Phase 2 clinical trials—a world first.

🔉 Open Calls for Proposals

➡️ Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics.

• Focus Area 1: advancing innovative rapid-response vaccine platforms that can transform the response to a future Disease X.

• Focus Area 2: developing new vaccine candidates against CEPI priority pathogens – focused on Lassa fever, Nipah, Pan-Sarbecovirus, Rift Valley fever – and viral families.

Other opportunities

Have you got a game-changing idea to strengthen biosecurity in support of greater pandemic preparedness? If yes, we invite you to apply for our new fellowship position at CEPI as part of Brown University’s Biosecurity Game Changers Fellowship. Applications now open here.

Deadline to apply: May 29, 2024.

📚 Reading corner

• Vaccine investment is a no-brainer — so why aren’t we doing it? (Financial Times)

• CEPI talks the need for speed when it comes to equitable vaccine access (BioProcess International)

• Unifying global efforts by CEPI’s centralized laboratory network (Frontiers In Immunology)

• Viruses Finally Reveal Their Complex Social Life (Quanta Magazine)

• A SPIKING FEVER: Long neglected, Lassa fever is surging in West Africa. Researchers want to know why (Science)

• Nigerians vaccinated in maiden Lassa fever vaccine clinical trial (The Guardian Nigeria)

• What is Disease X and do we need to worry about it? (New Scientist)

• Will we be ready for the next pandemic? (Financial Times)

• Ebola 10 years on: why trust remains key (LSHTM)  

• Bringing the 100 Days Mission to the Munich Security Conference and global security leaders (CEPI)

• Massive amounts of H5N1 vaccine would be needed if there’s a bird flu pandemic. Can we make enough? (STAT)

Tune in 📺

Understanding the true burden of Lassa fever will be crucial for informing vaccine development and distribution. We’re working with our partners across West Africa on the Enable study, the largest-ever research programme to provide a more accurate assessment of Lassa fever infections in West Africa.

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