|
 Stung by the devastation of West Africa's 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak,
which killed more than 11,300 people before an effective vaccine was
developed, the coalition is aiming to ensure such deadly outbreaks
can't happen again.
John-Arne Rottingen, interim chief executive officer of the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said it is
designed as "a global insurance policy against epidemic and pandemic
threats".
CEPI's founders used the World Economic Forum in Davos to announce
its launch, with initial funding of $460 million from the
governments of Germany, Japan and Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and the Wellcome Trust global health charity.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation and a leading global
health philanthropist, said recent major viral disease epidemics -
Ebola and Zika - showed how the world "is tragically unprepared to
detect local outbreaks and respond quickly enough to prevent them
from becoming global pandemics".
"Without investments in research and development, we will remain
unequipped when we face the next threat," he said. "The ability to
rapidly develop and deliver vaccines when new unknown diseases
emerge offers our best hope to outpace outbreaks, save lives and
avert disastrous economic consequences."
The initial commitments mean CEPI has raised nearly half the $1
billion it needs for its first five years. It is now calling for
proposals from researchers and companies who want to work on
developing shots against its first target diseases - the Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Lassa and Nipah viruses.
Rottingen said all these have shown the capacity to spread across
borders and become fast-growing outbreaks causing death and illness.
CEPI aims to drastically shorten the time it takes to make vaccines
to protect against these and other viruses, which can emerge
suddenly as global public health threats.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, told Reuters CEPI
aims to develop two vaccine candidates against each disease before
any epidemic, so they are ready for rapid deployment in field trials
if and when an outbreak starts.
[to top of second column] |
He noted that with Ebola, despite huge international efforts to work
faster, a vaccine was developed and validated as 100 percent
protective only in the final months of the West Africa epidemic,
after thousands had been infected and killed in Guinea, Sierra Leone
and Liberia.
"This partnership is trying to make sure the horror of Ebola is not
forgotten," he said. "There are moments in time that have to be
seized."
CEPI is also backed by major pharmaceutical companies, the World
Health Organization and the international health charity Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF).
Joanne Liu, head of MSF, welcomed the launch of CEPI but said price,
safety and speed were crucial. "For new vaccines to be game
changers, they must be developed and tested before outbreaks hit and
made accessible and affordable for all communities in times of
health crisis," she said.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
