Efforts to develop a vaccine against the strain of Ebola driving the deadly outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo are expanding, with an experimental shot developed by an Egypt-based pharmaceutical company set to advance toward human testing.
Minapharm Group will receive as much as $16.5 million to move its Bundibugyo Ebola virus vaccine through preclinical development and into an early-stage clinical trial expected to take place in Africa, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said Thursday. It becomes the fifth Bundibugyo-specific vaccine candidate backed by CEPI since the outbreak began.
The investment adds to an accelerating effort to develop vaccines against Bundibugyo, a comparatively rare Ebola species for which there is no approved vaccine. CEPI is aiming to advance at least two candidates to emergency authorization and World Health Organization prequalification for use in the current outbreak and any future Bundibugyo epidemics.The outbreak’s unprecedented scale is forcing health authorities to search for ways to protect people against a virus for which no proven shot exists. It has swelled to 5,713 confirmed cases and 2,744 deaths since it was declared in May.
