Development award
Crucell NV has been awarded a US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract to advance the development of a vaccine against both Ebola and Marburg viruses. The contract provides funding of up to $30 million, with additional options that may be triggered at the discretion of the NIH worth a further $40 million.
The work involves applying Crucell’s AdVac technology, which uses rare versions of the common cold virus, to deliver disease antigens. Although adenoviruses are very efficient at delivering antigens, most of the population has a pre-existing immunity to the common forms of the virus, making them unsuitable as vectors.
The Ebola and Marburg viruses cause hemorrhagic fever, a severe, often-fatal disease in humans characterised by high fever and massive internal bleeding causing death in 50 to 80 percent of all cases. Because of the high mortality rates and lack of any vaccine or therapy, both viruses are on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Category A list of bioterror agents, together with smallpox and anthrax.
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