The Sabin Vaccine Institute has been awarded a multi-year contract with funding potential up to US$214 million from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to advance the development and production of single-dose vaccine candidates for Ebola Sudan and Marburg virus diseases. (US$1=RM4.33)
In a statement, Sabin said the new contract leverages a partnership with BARDA that began in 2019, when the agency awarded Sabin another multi-year contract worth US$128 million to further the development of vaccines against both the Marburg and Ebola Sudan viruses.
BARDA, part of the United States (US) Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, will initially invest approximately US$35 million to produce up to 100,000 doses of Sabin’s Ebola Sudan virus (ChAd3-SUDV) vaccine.
Sabin CEO, Amy Finan said the company had successfully delivered Ebola Sudan vaccine doses to Uganda within 79 days of the start of the outbreak and the new contract enables it to produce up to 100,000 doses so the world was prepared in advance for future outbreaks.
The Sabin vaccine was the first to arrive in Uganda during the recent Ebola Sudan virus outbreak that caused 55 deaths after the World Health Organisation included it as one of three vaccines for possible use in an outbreak trial in Uganda.
However, the country declared the Ebola Sudan outbreak had ended on Jan 11, four months after the first confirmed case.
The contract also includes support to manufacture Sabin’s vaccine against Marburg virus (ChAd3-MARV), which would generate doses that could also be used in trials and in response to a possible Marburg virus outbreak.
As recently as last July, two people in Ghana died after being infected with Marburg virus, reinforcing the urgent need for a vaccine.
This project will be funded in whole with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
Currently, there are no licensed vaccines against Ebola Sudan and Marburg viruses, which cause hemorrhagic fever and kill approximately half the people infected.
