CEPI is an international organisation whose mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable equitable access to these vaccines for affected populations during outbreaks. Having previously invested in vaccine development efforts against Nipah, Lassa and MERS and platform technologies, CEPI was in late 2018 looking into expanding its number of priority diseases to include Rift Valley fever (RVF) and Chikungunya (CHIK).
It was CEPI’s Scientific Advisory Committee that advised these two diseases to be prioritised. The decision to fund the development of vaccines against RVF and CHIKV was based on the risk of outbreaks, feasibility of vaccine development and the potential public health impact of vaccines against these diseases. While vaccines against both viruses appear to be technically feasible, the commercial prospects for vaccines against RVF are non-existent and for CHIK, uncertain at best. RVF was included among the WHO R&D Blueprint list of priority diseases in 2018, while CHIK disease was deemed to present major public health risks for which “further research and development is needed” and would require “efforts in the interim to understand and mitigate the public health risks”. Both RVF and CHIK cause regular outbreaks and continue to present a major public health threat in LMICs.
Co-funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 enabled CEPI to launch a Call for Proposals for CHIKV and RVF in January 2019. Additionally, the same funding stream supported CEPI’s response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak where EC funding will be channelled towards supporting the clinical development of a second vaccine candidate.
Objectives under this grant:
Rift Valley Fever (RVF): To support activities enabling clinical Phase I/II testing of the most advanced RVF vaccine candidates, including identification of correlates of protection and their validation, which can facilitate future regulatory approval.
Chikungunya (CHIK): To support rapid progression of the most advanced clinical vaccine candidates for CHIK through mid/stage and late-stage clinical development, and to support activities enabling future efficacy testing, including identification of correlates of protection and their validations that can facilitate future regulatory approval.
Ebola (EVD): To address the remaining evidence gaps towards the licensure by FDA and or EMA for the leading vaccine candidates. To generate evidence of the protective efficacy of the vaccines in the context of an outbreak by facilitating the rapid launch of clinical studies of the lead Ebola vaccine candidates.
EC co-funding has enabled the development of vaccines against diseases that are of particular concern to low and middle- income countries and will greatly help to prevent or contain associated epidemics. The EC-CEPI co-investment therefore contributes to the EU’s development policy by addressing some of the root causes of the detrimental effects on human lives and economic losses due to RVF and CHIK. This also aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By helping to strengthen the capacity for reduction and management of national and global health risks, CEPI's investments in priority diseases will, with the EU’s support, help contribute to SDG3 (“Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages”). The same is true for SDG8 (“Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth”): stopping outbreaks before they cause widespread mortality and disruption, will avoid potential negative effects on economic growth. CEPI’s inclusive and collaborative approach to activities, also “encourage(s) and promote(s) effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships”, thus also aligning with SDG17 (“Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”)
Please see cepi.net for further details about the progress of the most recent call relating to Chikungunya and Rift Valley Fever (termed “CfP3i).
