Vaccine Research & Development

Current Vaccine Program

Building on non-clinical and clinical research performed previously by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center and GSK, we are advancing vaccine candidates against Marburg and Sudan ebolavirus viruses using the ChAd3 platform.

Marburg and Sudan ebolavirus are among the world’s deadliest viruses, causing hemorrhagic fever with subsequent death in an average of 50 percent of cases. A closely related strain, Ebola Zaire, has caused more than 2,200 deaths from 2018-2020 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. With Marburg and Sudan ebolavirus’ own history of outbreaks and their potential for future devastating outbreaks, preventative measures are essential to protecting people against these emerging infectious diseases.

While there are two approved vaccines for Ebola Zaire, no licensed vaccines exist to protect against Marburg or Sudan ebolavirus.

See our trials on clinicaltrials.gov

Vaccine Development Using the ChAd3 Platform

In August 2019, Sabin announced exclusive agreements with GSK for Sabin to advance the development of the prophylactic candidate vaccines against the deadly Ebola Zaire, Sudan ebolavirus and Marburg virus. Under the agreements between GSK and Sabin, Sabin exclusively licensed the technology for all three candidate vaccines and acquired certain patent rights specific to these vaccines. The three candidate vaccines were initially developed collaboratively by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Okairos, which was acquired by GSK in 2013. The candidate vaccines, based on GSK’s proprietary ChAd3 platform, were further developed by GSK, including the Phase II development for the Ebola Zaire vaccine.

In September 2019, U.S. Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded Sabin a development contract (75A50119C00055), valued up to US$128 million to develop the Marburg and Sudan ebolavirus vaccines. To date, BARDA has provided US$76 million in funding to further continue pre-clinical efficacy and safety studies, clinical trials in Africa and vaccine manufacturing processes to ensure quality and safety.