Showcasing IAVI's EID expertise at TropMed 2024

IAVI and our partners are live at #TropMed24! Here’s a roundup of our activities so far:

Lassa Symposium:

Robust discussion flowed during an IAVI-organized symposium on the end-to-end development of IAVI’s Lassa fever vaccine candidate featuring presentations by our funders, partners, and collaborators in Lassa fever vaccine development. Talks included results from an acute Lassa Fever study and evolving molecular virology of Lassa by Christian Happi , director, Institute of Genomics and Global Health, Redeemer's University ; an overview of Lassa epidemiology studies supporting trial development by Kent Kester , executive director, vaccine research and development division, CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) ; preclinical data supporting IAVI’s VSV Lassa fever vaccine program by Christopher Cooper , director, viral vaccines, IAVI Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory; results from the IAVI C102 Phase 1 trial with IAVI’s VSV Lassa fever vaccine candidate in US and Liberian cohorts by Mark Kieh , principal investigator of the IAVI C102 clinical trial with the Partnership for Research on Vaccines and Infectious Diseases in Liberia (PREVAIL); and challenges in end-to-end vaccine development for Lassa fever by Johan Vekemans , Lassa fever vaccine project lead, IAVI.

Many thanks to our co-chairs and discussion leaders Swati Gupta , vice president and head of emerging infectious diseases and epidemiology, IAVI, and Melanie McCauley , clinical research liaison for West Africa with The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine in support of the Viral Disease Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research .

Talks:

On the heels of Rwanda’s #Marburg virus outbreak, IAVI and our partners have finalized a preclinical challenge study of IAVI’s Marburg virus vaccine candidate. Christopher Cooper , director, viral vaccines, IAVI Vaccine Design & Development Lab shared those study results, which show that animals vaccinated intranasally with the candidate were completely protected against an aerosol Marburg virus challenge. No licensed vaccines are currently available for Marburg, a priority pathogen that has seen increased emergence in recent years and is considered a potential bioweapon.

Concurrently, Jennifer Foster , Leader of THE PATH WASH portfolio, discussed findings from a multi-partner research collaboration investigating the usability and feasibility of two intranasal vaccine delivery devices among prospective users in Kenya, Nepal, and the US. Participants described several advantages, including the importance of a needle-free option. These findings can inform the further development of intranasal vaccine candidates being investigated by IAVI and our partners.

Posters:

Matt Price , Director, Epidemiology, IAVI, presented findings from the IAVI X100 cohort study in rural Sierra Leone designed to better understand incidence and prevalence of Lassa fever virus (LASV) – a priority pathogen for which epidemiological data are sparse. High rates of LASV seroincidence were observed. This data together with other findings will inform future efficacy trial design and recruitment strategies.

In another poster, former IAVI intern Christopher Semancik , now a postbaccalaureate research fellow in the Epidemiology and Population Studies Section with The National Institutes of Health , shared a systematic literature review describing the seroprevalence of antibodies to several filoviruses that cause human infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Their findings indicate more seroprevalence and seropositivity to filoviruses than has been previously acknowledged.

Many thanks to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) for hosting us and for putting on a fantastic conference!

IAVI gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the major funders listed below. Learn more at: https://www.iavi.org/about-iavi/funders/.