Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is collaborating with Hilleman Laboratories, a Singapore-based joint venture of biopharmaceutical company MSD and charitable foundation Wellcome, to advance the development and manufacturing of Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine candidate doses for clinical trials using the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform.
With up to $8.5 million in CEPI funding, Hilleman Laboratories will advance development and manufacture clinical supply of the investigational vaccine at the organisation’s vaccine production facility as scientists ramp up efforts to respond to one of the largest Ebola outbreaks on record, which is predominantly affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Hilleman Laboratories will initially take forward development of the rVSV Bundibugyo vaccine candidate starting material generated by IAVI with CEPI funding, and potentially other CEPI funded rVSV vaccine candidates in the future. Hilleman will leverage know-how on the rVSV platform to develop and finalise the manufacturing process and subsequently produce clinical trial material. MSD will serve as a technical adviser to Hilleman Laboratories by contributing proprietary scientific and manufacturing expertise on the rVSV platform.
Hilleman Laboratories will adapt the updated manufacturing process currently in development for MSD’s WHO pre-qualified Zaire ebolavirus vaccine—which uses the rVSV platform—to accelerate the path to clinical trials for the Bundibugyo candidate.
