Merck and the global charity Wellcome are partnering with Hilleman Laboratories to manufacture doses of a promising experimental vaccine against the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. The effort is backed by up to $8.5 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
Ebola Outbreak
The outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has infected 3,360 people and killed 1,487. There are no approved treatments for Bundibugyo Ebola, and no vaccine is currently approved against the virus.
CEPI has said it is investing up to $8.6 million for the development of a separate Bundibugyo vaccine candidate from the University of Oxford. The vaccine is based on ChAdOx1 technology and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The Merck/Wellcome collaboration will advance manufacturing of a single-dose vaccine developed by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The vaccine uses the same recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform used by Merck for its approved Ervebo Ebola vaccine that targets the more common Zaire strain.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
