Egyptian firm developing vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain

An Egyptian pharmaceutical company is developing a potential vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) battles its largest outbreak of the virus.

Minapharm said Thursday it will receive up to $16.5 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to advance the vaccine candidate through laboratory development and into Phase 1 clinical trials.

ProBioGen, a Berlin-based subsidiary of Minapharm, designed the vaccine. The planned Phase 1 trial will assess its safety and ability to trigger an immune response, with testing expected to take place in Africa.

The candidate is the fifth Bundibugyo vaccine to receive CEPI funding as researchers race to develop vaccines and treatments for the strain driving the current outbreak in the DRC.

There are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments for Bundibugyo Ebola.

Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director General Jean Kaseya, said the development of a vaccine by an African company could strengthen the continent's capacity to respond to future outbreaks.

The Minapharm vaccine uses the modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) platform and is designed to trigger both B-cell and T-cell immune responses.

CEPI is also funding four other Bundibugyo vaccine candidates being developed by Moderna, the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India, Hilleman and Public Health Vaccines.

The candidates use different vaccine technologies, including mRNA, ChAdOx and recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platforms.

CEPI said it hopes at least two candidates will successfully progress through clinical trials and eventually be considered for approval by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Meanwhile, WHO experts have recommended a full-scale clinical trial of Ervebo, the only licensed Ebola vaccine, to determine whether it can protect against the Bundibugyo strain.

Ervebo is approved for protection against the Zaire strain of Ebola. Early animal studies have suggested it may also offer some protection against Bundibugyo.