Project description
Vaccines against Rift Valley fever
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral disease encountered in domesticated animals in sub-Saharan Africa but also has the capacity to infect humans. It is caused by the mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever phlebovirus (RVFV) which in certain cases can lead to severe systemic or hepatic/hemorrhagic RVF. The potential of RVF to cause a public health emergency has alerted the scientific community towards developing effective veterinary and human vaccines. The EU-funded RIFTVAX project comes as a continuation of previous efforts on vaccine development and aims to support the clinical testing of vaccine candidates in endemic regions according to WHO guidelines.
Objective
Initial funding was provided to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in 2019 which was used to support preclinical and clinical development of Rift Valley fever (RVF) and Chikungunya (Chik) vaccines respectively. This funding was provided to applicants as a joint effort between CEPI and the Horizon 2020 programme, under the CEPI Call for Proposals CfP3i.
Whilst previous funding has led to the development of pre-licensure Chik vaccines, development of RVF vaccines is at a much earlier stage. Hence, this current application seeks to leverage a further €35M from Horizon Europe, which will be supplemented with €15M from CEPI, making a pool of €50M, which will be used to fund clinical development of RVF vaccine projects under the CEPI follow-up Call for Proposals CfP3ii.
It is envisaged that applicants for the CfP3ii funding will have already developed a manufacturing plan and that all preclinical studies have been completed (with the possible exception of Development and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) studies). Applicants will propose Phase I/II trials in endemic regions for vaccines which are in accordance with the WHO Target Product Profile (https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/blue-print/call-for-comments/tpp-rift-valley-fever-vaccines-draft3-0pc.pdf?sfvrsn=f2f3b314_2) for RVF vaccines.
Awards will usually have a 36-month duration and will be administered by the CEPI secretariat.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-COFUND - HORIZON Programme Cofund ActionsCoordinator
0277 OSLO
Norway