Johnson & Johnson today announced the formation of consortia with leading global research institutions and non-government organizations to work in conjunction with Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies to accelerate the development of its Ebola vaccine regimen.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) plans to award these consortia grants totaling more than €100 million from the Ebola+ programme to support the development, manufacturing and patient education for the vaccine regimen.
The IMI is Europe’s largest public-private initiative aiming to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. Funding for the IMI Ebola+ programme comes in part from Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research and innovation programme, and in part in the form of in-kind contributions from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) partners in the projects.
The announcement comes just a week after Johnson & Johnson announced the start of a Phase I, first-in-human clinical trial of their preventive Ebola vaccine.
“In the face of the global challenge of Ebola, bringing together the expertise and capabilities of the pharmaceutical industry, academic centers and NGOs will be critical to help solve this crisis,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson. “The European Commission’s support through IMI bolsters collaboration that should significantly accelerate efforts to help address this humanitarian crisis.”
“It is great to see the multiple partners come together to accelerate the development of an effective vaccine both for the current epidemic and future outbreaks,” said Professor Peter Piot, M.D., director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, one of the consortia partners. “This is an opportunity to make sure that this is the last Ebola epidemic in which our only tools to control it are isolation and quarantine.”
The funds were announced to support several consortia working together on a total of four projects. Three of the projects are designed to address the need to accelerate Phase I, II and III trials and scale up production of the prime-boost vaccine regimen. A Phase I trial led by Oxford Vaccines Group is currently underway with trials in Africa being planned.
The Phase II and III trials in Europe and Africa, subject to review of the preliminary Phase I data, will be carried out in parallel. A fourth project will investigate innovative ways and technology to raise awareness and acceptance of vaccination campaigns. A total of eight projects are being funded under this round of the IMI’s Ebola+ programme.
“With people still contracting this disease, there is still a risk that Ebola will continue to spread and that we could have another major outbreak in the future,” said Johan Van Hoof, M.D., Global Head of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen. “We highly appreciate the European Commission’s support and are pleased to be joined by them and our distinguished partners in further accelerating our goal of bringing this vaccine, if approved, to families and frontline health care professionals as fast as possible.”
Professor Andrew Pollard and Dr. Matthew Snape, who are leading the Phase I and II Ebola vaccine trials at the University of Oxford for IMI, said “the initial testing of vaccines for Ebola is already underway at the University with an astonishing response from the public to volunteer for the trials, to provide the earliest possible information to guide further studies of a prime boost vaccine, that if approved, may help control the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.”
Organizations joining Janssen include the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), La Centre Muraz, Bavarian Nordic A/S, Vibalogics, Grameen Foundation and World Vision of Ireland.