Inside the race to develop a new Ebola vaccine

As Ebola rages, Moderna and others are racing to develop an mRNA vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo virus driving the current outbreak

Moderna, best known for its COVID mRNA vaccine, is developing an investigational mRNA vaccine against the rare Bundibugyo virus species driving the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda with up to $50 million in support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The effort could move the candidate toward early human trials within months, the company and CEPI say.

“The programme has been designed to move with urgency,” Moderna said in a statement shared with Scientific American . The company said it is working to accelerate the candidate into a phase 1 clinical trial (an early phase safety trial) “in the coming months,” subject to regulatory review and approvals.

The effort is part of a wider push to close one of the gaps exposed by the outbreak: Ebola vaccines exist but not for every species of Ebola virus that can cause deadly disease in humans.

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CEPI has committed up to $60 million in funding to develop three Bundibugyo vaccine candidates: Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, a candidate from IAVI (formerly the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative), and a University of Oxford candidate that will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Each uses a different proven technology. mRNA uses genetic instructions to make the body produce a viral protein; the IAVI vaccine candidate uses a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus, a weakened version of a virus that can infect livestock, as a vector to deliver genetic instructions for a Bundibugyo virus protein. And Oxford’s ChAdOx platform uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus as a delivery vehicle.

Aurélia Nguyen, CEPI’s deputy CEO, says the organization moved quickly because the outbreak is “deeply concerning” and no approved vaccine is available. CEPI mobilized resources just over two weeks after the DRC announced the outbreak in mid-May, she says, to advance vaccine candidates that could help control the epidemic. CEPI selected the three candidates after a global review and consultations with the World Health Organization, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the affected countries, Nguyen says. “Having multiple shots on goal increases our chances of developing a successful vaccine,” Nguyen says.

For Moderna, CEPI’s support will fund preclinical testing and a phase 1 clinical trial. The funding will also allow the company to manufacture doses of its vaccine in parallel so that larger phase 2/3 trials can begin quickly if phase 1 data are promising.