The Government has today pledged £20 million to develop new
vaccines to combat the world’s deadliest diseases, amid concerns
over the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak in China.
When visiting the Public Health England’s Porton Down laboratory
last week, Health Secretary announced the UK will ramp up
efforts to fund ground-breaking research into vaccines,
diagnostics and cures to fight against the threat of future
viruses.
The new funding will support work developing new vaccines for
epidemics, including their three new programmes to develop
vaccines against the novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV. These projects
aim to advance 2019-nCoV vaccine candidates into clinical testing
as quickly as possible.
Health Secretary said:
Vaccines are our best defense against a host of deadly
diseases, including coronavirus. The UK is a hub of
world-leading and pioneering research, and it is vital that we
lead the way in developing new vaccines to target global
threats with scientists from across the world.
The £20 million announced today will help our globally
recognised vaccine development capabilities continue to develop
new defences against emerging diseases including coronavirus.
It’s paramount we invest in vital research about infectious
diseases, keeping the UK at the forefront of modern-day science
so we can share this knowledge globally.
The £20m in new funding will go to the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) – an innovative global
partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil
society organisations launched in Davos in 2017 to develop
vaccines to stop future epidemics.
CEPI was originally formed in response to the Ebola epidemic in
West Africa.
Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said:
CEPI welcomes the UK’s continued support and funding for our
vital work, which comes at a crucial moment as the world races
to respond to the emergence of a novel coronavirus. The rapid
global spread and unique epidemiological characteristics of the
virus are deeply concerning.
Our hope is that, with our partners, we can get an
investigational vaccine from gene sequencing of the pathogen
through to clinical testing in 16 weeks. The earliest stage of
clinical trials (Phase I), to establish the safety of
investigational vaccines, would take around two to four months.
This is an extremely ambitious timeline – indeed, it would be
unprecedented in the of field vaccine development. It is
important to remember that even if we are successful - and
there can be no guarantee - there will be further challenges to
navigate before we can make vaccines more broadly available.
The Government is also in initial stages of talks between NIHR
and UKRI regarding plans to run a rapid research call to support
the global response to 2019-nCoV.
