A look back: CEPI’s top stories from 2024
CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)
We want to stop future epidemics by developing new vaccines for a safer world.
In a year burdened by viral outbreaks—Marburg, Mpox, H5N1, Dengue and Lassa fever, to name a few—our global community has faced many challenges. Yet amid the turmoil, we’re reminded of what is possible when the same global community unites around a common cause. Emerging from all these outbreaks and their untold human impact, are stories of hope. Hope for a future in which epidemics and pandemics are no longer a threat to humanity.
Over the course of 2024, CEPI and its global network of partners oversaw a number of breakthroughs that are helping to realize this ambition. A Lassa fever vaccine became the first candidate to enter Phase 2 clinical trials, bringing the promise of protection closer than ever. CEPI’s manufacturing network expanded into India and Brazil, strengthening regional preparedness. And when the deadly Marburg virus struck Rwanda for the first time, investigational vaccines were deployed less than two weeks after the outbreak was declared—a true testament to the power of science and collaboration.
These achievements, a handful among the many, are evidence of what can be achieved in the face of growing epidemic and pandemic risk. Explore some of the top stories from 2024 and see how our global Coalition is reshaping the fight against viral disease outbreaks.
In his end-of-year message, CEPI's CEO, Dr Richard Hatchett, reflects on a "banner year for viruses" and explores the trends, innovations and technologies that are shaping the future of global health.
Rwanda’s Marburg response is a masterclass in how to prevent pandemics
It was grim news on September 27: Marburg—a highly lethal haemorrhagic fever—had emerged in Rwanda. Ten people had been infected and six had already died.
Yet those frightening first reports rapidly evolved into a story of success and hope in the fight against epidemics. Today, December 20, marks the official end of Rwanda’s Marburg Virus Disease outbreak (https://bit.ly/41JgqmV).
At the heart of this effective health security response was an emergency clinical trial of Sabin Vaccine Institute 's experimental Marburg vaccine that began less than two weeks after the outbreak was declared. This is the 100 Days Mission in action.
?? Read Rwandan Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana’s and CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett’s joint reflections on this historic response here.
Other R&D and manufacturing news
CEPI partners Valneva and Serum Institute of India have announced an exclusive license agreement for Valneva's chikungunya vaccine that enables the supply of the vaccine in Asia. The new collaboration falls within the Valneva-CEPI funding agreement, signed earlier this year with co-funding from the European Union, to support broader access to the vaccine in low-and-middle-income countries. Our CEO, Dr Richard Hatchett, described the news as a "historic achievement to enhance regional health security and guarantee the priority supply of affordable doses to local populations most in need."
A CEPI-backed team of scientists in Kenya, Tanzania and the UK will study the extent to which chikungunya is affecting countries in East Africa. The CEPI-funded research will inform outbreak planning, disease control and vaccine development in the region.
CEPI has teamed up with Accumulus Synergy to support their innovative data-sharing platform that could accelerate access to vaccines and other health technologies by enabling multi-country regulatory submissions and expediting regulatory review and approval. Supported by up to $19.1 million in funding from CEPI, the partnership helps to build global regulatory preparedness by leveraging Accumulus' platform for real-time collaboration to provide information equity that has been absent in many countries.
CEPI is providing up to $2.8 million to UK-based CPI for the further development of the University of Toronto's self-contained MANGO device, which aims to automate the process of Virus-Like Particle (VLP) manufacturing. The MANGO device aims to overcome the need for VLPs to be grown in living cells, which could ultimately speed up the vaccine development process by several months—helping the world respond faster and more equitably to future epidemic and pandemic threats.
Dr Amadou Alpha Sall has been appointed Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain. Dr Sall will join CEPI on 1 June 2025 upon completion of his tenure as CEO of Senegal's Institut Pasteur de Dakar.
A CEPI-backed research consortium is set to further establish a vaccine safety evidence generation network in Africa. The project – led by the Global Vaccine Data Network - will support scientists across African research sites to determine whether adverse events reported in vaccine trials are linked with the vaccine or occur at a rate within expected background levels. Findings will support regulatory authorities in making faster and more informed decisions about vaccine safety specific to African populations.
领英推荐
The Viral Most Wanted… The Adenovirus family and Pneumovirus family
The stealthy seasonal viruses that attack millions of babies and elderly people with colds, coughs, conjunctivitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
The Viral Most Wanted features the Adenovirus family and Pneumovirus family—home to the increasingly well-known winter cold culprit Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). This pervasive pathogen infects nearly all babies and children worldwide at least once—and sometimes twice—before they reach two years old.
RSV can inflict a full range of harms, from mild common cold symptoms, to flu-like symptoms, to severe bronchiolitis or pneumonia, chest pain and acute respiratory failure. Disease experts estimate this Pneumovirus alone causes up to 200,000 deaths a year.
100 Words On… Chikungunya virus
Chikungunya is a viral disease belonging to the Togavirus family. Around one billion people live in areas where Chikungunya virus is endemic, with mosquitoes being the main vectors for onward transmission. The name chikungunya derives from a word in the Kimakonde language, meaning "to become contorted" in reference to the severe joint pain the virus can cause. The first-ever Chikungunya vaccine, developed by Valneva with support from CEPI and the European Union's Horizon programmes, has been approved in the US, Canada and Europe. Now, CEPI is working to expand access to the vaccine in countries affected by this debilitating virus.
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CEPI speaking engagements
13-16 January 2025: 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, San Francisco, USA.
CEPI's Emma Wheatley, Executive Director of Access and Business Development and Rebecca Farkas, Director of R&D Innovations, will be in attendance.
15 January 2025: The 20th Annual Non-dilutive Funding Summit hosted by FreeMind, San Francisco, USA.
Rebecca Farkas, Director of R&D Innovations, CEPI, will be speaking on the following panel: The Need for Novel Responses to Disease Threat(s) in a Fast-Changing World: A Q&A with Government, NGO and Industry Participants.
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Freelance Science Engagement | Infectious Diseases Researcher
1 个月Impressive! Particularly exciting to see the 100 days mission realised, thanks to pre-existing vaccine development being at an appropriate stage, for the Marburg outbreak in Rwanda. Congratulations to all involved.
What a track record, thank you CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) and all the team and volunteers for all you do on a global basis.