The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is launching the first eight projects of its Ebola+ programme, to accelerate all aspects of vaccine development and manufacturing as well as deployment and compliance with vaccine regimens and diagnostics. The announcement comes in the run up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Ebola will feature high on the agenda.
The eight projects were selected from proposals submitted under IMI's first Ebola+ Call for proposals, which was launched in November 2014, reports Medical News Today. The Ebola+ programme was created in response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in western Africa, which has killed over 8,000 people so far.
Between them, the projects bring together over 40 partners from the pharmaceutical & diagnostics industries, public health bodies, academia, aid organisations, and small biotech companies in Europe, Africa and the US. Previous experience at IMI has shown that consortia of this kind, bringing together diverse groups from around the world, can make progress in even the most challenging disease areas.
European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas said: "There is no vaccine or treatment against Ebola as yet, so we must urgently step up our efforts in Ebola research. With this funding from Horizon 2020 and our industry partners, we are speeding up the development of an Ebola vaccine as well as rapid diagnostic tests to aid heroic health workers. These are the tools we need to defeat Ebola once and for all."
Looking to the future, further calls for proposals are planned for the coming months. These could address issues such as the development of a vaccine that offers broad protection against both Ebola and other, related viruses such as Marburg; the development of new treatments for Ebola; new vaccines that do not require extreme temperatures; and the generation of new diagnostic tests.
A South African scientist, Professor Helen Rees of the University of the Witwatersrand, is at the vanguard of the global search to find an effective Ebola vaccine and chaired a recent meeting of experts trying to fast-track the development of three promising vaccines. "If we pull this off, it will be fantastic," said Rees, who is executive director of the university's Reproductive Health and HIV Institute in a Sunday Times report.
She said that even if the first vaccines were only partly effective, and offered short-lived protection, it could help stop the outbreak in West Africa. "This epidemic is far from over. It is critically important that we start efficacy studies for a vaccine as soon as possible," said Rees.
Scientists, members of the pharmaceutical industry, the UN, WHO and other agencies, drug regulators, politicians and ambassadors from the affected countries attended the meeting. The next one is scheduled for May. Rees chairs another committee that is working on developing guidelines for Ebola immunisation once a proven vaccine becomes available.
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