June 1 (Reuters) – Moderna said on Monday it has partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop a potential vaccine against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, the strain linked to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Under the agreement, CEPI has committed up to $50 million to support preclinical development and early clinical testing of Moderna’s investigational BDBV vaccine candidate.
CEPI said it would also initially invest up to $8.6 million for a shot developed by the University of Oxford and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and an initial $3.2 million for a vaccine developed by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
The World Health Organization last week recommended prioritizing several experimental drugs, including antibodies, antivirals and vaccines, for the treatment and prevention of BDBV.
CEPI is a global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Vijay Kishore)
