HHS Sponsors Commercial Manufacturing Tests for Ebola Vaccine

Article

An Ebola vaccine will take the next critical steps in development under a $24.75 million contract through May 2020 between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and BioProtection Systems Corp. (BPS) of Ames, Iowa.

“The Ebola epidemic of 2014 and 2015 was just the latest outbreak of this potentially deadly disease and we cannot predict when or where the next outbreak will occur,” explained BARDA acting director Dr. Richard Hatchett. “We can prevent future epidemics by acting quickly and decisively to complete development of Ebola vaccines and treatments for use worldwide. As a global public health threat and a potential bioterrorism threat, Ebola remains a priority.”

There currently are no vaccines or treatments approved for use against Ebola. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently determined that the Ebola virus can be found in semen for a year or longer after a person has recovered from the illness. The most recent case of Ebola occurred in West Africa in April of 2016. In 2014 and 2015, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa led to more than 28,000 suspected cases of the illness, more than 15,000 confirmed cases, and 11,310 deaths.

Since the 2014-2015 epidemic, BPS has worked with Merck and Co., Inc. to advance a vaccine, known as V920, through multiple clinical studies, including studies conducted among health care professionals working in West Africa. The results suggesting that V920 protected against Ebola virus infections in humans were published in July 2015.

Today’s agreement builds on previous Ebola vaccine development efforts undertaken by BPS with support from ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Under the previous ASPR contract, BPS developed a process to scale up manufacturing of V920 to produce large quantities of the vaccine. Under the agreement announced today, the company will enable the validation of those manufacturing processes to ensure commercial quantities of the vaccine can be made available for future outbreaks if needed.

The contract could be extended for up to a total of five years and $75.98 million to support additional safety studies and analyses of how well the vaccine stimulates the human immune system when produced at commercial scale. All of these efforts will support the company’s application for vaccine licensure through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

As a division of ASPR, BARDA takes a comprehensive integrated portfolio approach to advanced research and development, innovation, acquisition, and manufacturing of vaccines, drugs, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products for public health emergency threats. In addition to emerging infectious diseases, these threats include pandemic influenza, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents, and antimicrobial resistant pathogens.

Source: HHS

Recent Videos
Pathogen Playbook Presenter: Sharon Ward-Fore, BS, MS, MT(ASCP), CIC, FAPIC
Mark Wiencek, PhD
Rebecca Crapanzano-Sigafoos, DrPH, CIC, AL-CIP, FAPIC
The CDC’s updated hospital respiratory reporting requirement has added new layers of responsibility for infection preventionists. Karen Jones, MPH, RN, CIC, FAPIC, clinical program manager at Wolters Kluwer, breaks down what it means and how IPs can adapt.
Studying for the CIC using a digital tablet and computer (Adobe Stock 335828989 by NIKCOA)
Infection Control Today's Conversations with the HSPA President, Arlene Bush, CRCST, CER, CIS, SME, DSMD, CRMST
Infection Control Today's Conversations with the HSPA President, Arlene Bush, CRCST, CER, CIS, SME, DSMD, CRMST
Cheron Rojo, BS, FCS, CHL,  CER, CFER, CRCST
Matthias Tschoerner, Dr Sc
Standardizing Cleaning and Disinfection
Related Content