Race is on to develop vaccine to fight killer viruses

SCIENTISTS are attempting to come up with vaccines for new and emerging diseases before they become global health emergencies.

Researchers are initially targeting diseases which have the potential to cause serious epidemics including Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Lassa and Nipah viruses.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) aims to develop two promising vaccine candidates against each disease before an epidemic strikes.

Overall, an initial investment of $460 million has come from the governments of Germany, Japan and Norway, plus the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

Medical research charity the Wellcome Trust has pledged to donate $100m over the next five years to the project.

The coalition, which has launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has also called for more investors to come forward as it is looking to raise another half billion US dollars by the end of this year.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: “We know from Ebola, Zika and Sars that epidemics are among the significant threats we face to life, health and prosperity. Vaccines can protect us, but we’ve done too little to develop them. CEPI is our chance to learn the lessons of recent tragedies, and outsmart epidemics with new vaccine defences.”

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, added: “The ability to rapidly develop and deliver vaccines when new ‘unknown’ diseases emerge offers our best hope to outpace outbreaks.”