CEPI invests $250m in Lassa fever vaccine

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has invested over $250 million in the last seven years in the development of a Lassa fever vaccine in the areas of vaccine trials and enable research programme to really get that critical data.

A recent study, led by the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and funded by CEPI, estimated that 3,300 lives could be saved across the region over a ten-year period from the introduction of a Lassa vaccine. The most advanced Lassa vaccine candidate is currently undergoing Phase 2 trials in the region.

Director of Epidemiology and Data Science Department at CEPI, Gabrielle Breugelmans, disclosed this yesterday at the launch of a pioneering study designed to get a better idea of the variation in Lassa Fever symptoms and how these compare to malaria and other worrisome infections found in the region.

She noted that Lassa fever was a critical priority pathogen and it was the mission of CEPI to create a world, where epidemics and pandemics were no longer a threat to humanity.