CEPI CEPI Accelerates Vaccine Research to Combat Emerging Infectious Diseases
West African leaders chart path against Lassa fever
In a joint statement, the ministers committed to supporting the continued development of International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)’s Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)-funded Lassa fever vaccine candidate through a collaborative co-funding approach and joint action to mobilise and secure resources through advocacy and regional coordination. They also pledged to strengthen national and regional platforms and infrastructure – including clinical trial sites, laboratories and regulatory authorities – so they are ready to advance a Lassa vaccine to licensure and to bolster the region’s preparedness to respond to other infectious disease outbreaks.
New Mpox vaccine study for outbreak-affected DRC
Backed by US$10.4 million of CEPI funding, researchers are set to gather important data on the real-world effectiveness of the LC16m8 mpox vaccine. The study will be conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of a major outbreak of mpox, generating insights that will guide mpox vaccination and management strategies in DRC and other endemic regions. Three million doses of Lc16m8 are being donated by the Government of Japan to the DRC, where it is being rolled out for emergency use. It is currently the only mpox vaccine licensed for use in children.
New global collaboration for virus intelligence
A new CEPI-funded project seeks to pinpoint the most threatening viruses and viral families with pandemic potential by integrating large pools of animal, human and environment data from two AI programmes – combining Boston University-based Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communication Network(BEACON)’s open-source disease surveillance programme with UC Davis’s VISTA. The US$1 million project will use AI and real expert insights to identify the most likely future threats, helping to inform where CEPI and others focus vaccine development efforts.
Global UNVEIL initiative to fast-track Lassa fever vaccine
Scientists at The University of Texas Medical Branch have been awarded up to $6.4 million by CEPI to help establish which immune responses protect against Lassa fever. The project, known as UNVEIL (Unraveling Natural and Vaccine‑Elicited Immunity to Lassa fever), will work with frontline clinical sites in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, where Lassa fever is endemic, to collect samples from patients and healthy volunteers. Data generated could help predict the efficacy of a future vaccine.
CEPI to Support Human Trials for New Nipah Vaccine
A promising vaccine candidate against one of the world’s most deadly viruses, Nipah, is ready for testing in mid-stage human trials in Bangladesh, where people now die almost every year in Nipah disease outbreaks. When the trial launches in early 2026, the vaccine (PHV02)—developed by the U.S.-based biotech company Public Health Vaccines (PHV)—will be among the first Nipah vaccine candidates to reach this stage of testing in people.
CEPI will be providing US$17.3 million to Public Health Vaccines to support the trial, building on a previous investment that successfully advanced its Nipah vaccine through early-stage clinical testing.
