Major milestone in development of Nipah-virus vaccine

Dr Rick Jarman is head of the Nipah programme at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is funding the study. He told The Telegraph the Bangladesh trial was part of the “100 days mission”, which aims to ensure the world is ready to roll out new vaccines, drugs and diagnostics within 100 days of identifying a new pandemic threat.

“We’re doing all this work up front, to be ready for a future catastrophe with Nipah,” he said.

The latest trial, which is being conducted in partnership with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), involves 306 healthy participants aged between 18 and 55. It will explore the impact of a one and two dose regimen. 

“This is a major milestone,” said Dr Daniel Jenkin, Nipah Vaccine Clinical Development Lead at the University of Oxford and lead study doctor for the phase two trials.

“The phase two trial… will focus on testing whether the vaccine can generate a strong immune response against Nipah virus and also to ensure that it’s well tolerated and safe. We have already carried out initial testing in a phase one trial in Oxford and have seen positive results, which allowed us to make the decision to start a larger trial in Bangladesh,” he said.

Dr K Zaman, a senior scientist at icddr,b and the principal investigator of the trial in Bangladesh, added: “By leading this critical study in a country that bears the brunt of Nipah outbreaks, we aim to generate the evidence needed to protect lives from Nipah diseases in Bangladesh and globally.”

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