GAVI, a funder of vaccines founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has agreed to buy $5 million worth of an Ebola vaccine from U.S.-based Merck, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, to protect against future outbreaks of the deadly virus.
Ebola killed at least 11,315 people and infected 28,637 in West Africa in the past two years.
The deal was announced Wednesday at the World economic Forum, Reuters reported.
The agreement will help the U.S. drugmaker take the experimental Ebola vaccine through late-stage clinical trials to licensing and then through pre-qualification by the World Health Organization.
If approved, Merck’s VSV-ZEBOV live attenuated Ebola Zaire vaccine will become one of the world’s first licensed Ebola shots. GAVI will be able to start buying it to create a stockpile for future outbreaks, according to a statement issued in Davos.
Health officials, researchers and pharmaceutical companies at the annual gathering in Davos worked on ways to overhaul global health governance in the wake of the biggest global health disaster in years, TheAustralian reported.
The West African epidemic, which still isn’t over, exposed gaping holes in the world’s ability to prepare for and respond to outbreaks.
Only one Ebola vaccine, developed by Merck and NewLink Genetics, proved effective in clinical trials. Merck agreed to make 300,000 doses of the vaccine by May for clinical trials or emergency use. GAVI agreed to invest $5 million US to develop the vaccine.
At least 12 Ebola vaccine and drug candidates were under development when the virus began to spread in West Africa. There is still no licensed treatment or vaccine. Tests on humans didn’t start until the epidemic was waning.
The World Economic Forum said it had added the “future of health” to its list of 10 global challenges. It urged public and private entities to collaborate on solutions. The forum also listed infectious-disease outbreaks among the top threats in its Global Risks report, according to TheAustralian.
The GAVI Vaccine Alliance is funded by governments of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, China, Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Qatar, Oman, Sweden, U.K, and U.S.
Corporate GAVI funders include Absolute Return for Kids, Anglo American, the A&A Foundation, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Comic Relief, the ELMA Vaccines and Immunization Foundation, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, Gulf Youth Alliance, JP Morgan, “la Caixa” Foundation, LDS Charities, Lions Clubs International Foundation, UPS and Vodafone.
