Egyptian Group Developing Ebola Vaccine

An Egyptian pharmaceutical firm is developing a potential vaccine against the deadly Ebola strain spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Minapharm will receive up to $16.5 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop a vaccine against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola.

The candidate vaccine was designed by ProBioGen, a Berlin-based subsidiary of Minapharm.

It is the fifth Bundibugyo candidate vaccine being funded by CEPI as efforts intensify to find tools to control the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The $16.5 million funding will advance the vaccine through laboratory stages and into a Phase 1 clinical trial, which involves small-scale testing on humans.

The trial, aimed at determining the vaccine’s safety and its ability to trigger an immune response, is expected to take place in Africa.

There are currently no specific vaccines or treatments for Bundibugyo Ebola, which has been spreading faster than efforts to control it can keep pace.

More than 5,600 confirmed cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including over 2,700 deaths, since the outbreak was declared on May 15.

Jean Kaseya, head of the African Union’s public health agency, said the Bundibugyo virus is now driving the largest Ebola outbreak the Democratic Republic of Congo has ever faced.

He said having an African company advance a vaccine candidate was an important development, not only for the current outbreak but also for Africa’s ability to develop and manufacture medical tools needed to protect its population.

Five Jabs In The Pipeline

CEPI is funding four other Bundibugyo candidate vaccines, which are at different stages of development and use various vaccine technologies.

They include vaccines being developed by Moderna using mRNA technology; the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India using the ChAdOx platform; and candidates from Hilleman and Public Health Vaccines using rVSV technology.

The Minapharm candidate uses the MVA platform and is the only one designed to trigger both B-cell and T-cell responses, potentially providing long-lasting immunity.

CEPI hopes that at least two Bundibugyo vaccines will successfully complete trials and become suitable for approval by the World Health Organization.

The WHO has also recommended a full-scale human trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo of Ervebo, the only existing approved Ebola vaccine, to determine whether it can provide protection against the Bundibugyo strain.

Ervebo has already proved safe and effective against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola virus. Early data, particularly from animal studies, suggest it may also provide some protection against Bundibugyo.