The UK government has allocated £33 million in funding to support four vaccine hubs focusing on improving vaccine manufacturing capabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
These hubs will be part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN) Project, aiming to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in LMICs. This initiative will help strengthen vaccine production and distribution in LMICs and contribute to enhanced preparedness for future pandemics.
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Addressing Global Health Challenges
Professor Mary Ryan, Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise), underlines the importance of collaboration among international partners to address the world’s most pressing health challenges. The vaccine hubs will facilitate the development of life-saving vaccines, enhance the ability to respond to emerging diseases, and enable LMICs to expand their vaccine production capacity. The collaboration seeks to support children’s access to critical vaccines and promote vaccine development against emerging diseases while bolstering Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities.
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Minister for Health and Secondary Care Will Quince highlights the UK government’s commitment to improving vaccine manufacturing in collaboration with global researchers. The government’s investment in innovative vaccine hubs, funded with £33 million of UK aid, aims to ensure equitable vaccine access for those in need. Additionally, these partnerships with British universities and vaccine developers will accelerate the availability of new vaccines for future pandemics, both in the UK and abroad.
Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub
The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub, led by Professor Robin Shattock, has received £10.5 million for 4.5 years. This hub is focused on increasing global immunization coverage and enhancing responses to viral outbreaks by developing rapid and cost-effective vaccine manufacturing and deployment technologies. It will engage in novel manufacturing projects in countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, and South Africa. The primary goal is to reduce the production costs and complexity associated with vaccine manufacturing, with a specific focus on heat-stable vaccine formulations. This initiative seeks to facilitate the rapid production of tailored vaccines in response to identified outbreaks.
The team plans to innovate and “disrupt” vaccine production by developing reliable technologies that can be adopted by LMICs to produce vaccines cost-effectively, at scale, and in compliance with regulatory requirements. The goal is to create reliable vaccine platforms that can be used to produce customized vaccines within 100 days of identifying an outbreak. This effort involves the development of heat-stable vaccine formulations, minimizing the need for low-temperature storage. The research will further advance existing vaccine platforms, focusing on RNA-based platforms, as seen in several successful COVID-19 vaccines, as well as those based on viruses, yeast, and bacterial membranes.
The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub builds upon the successes and partnerships established during the first EPSRC Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub at Imperial College London, funded from 2018-2023. This ambitious project aims to leverage biotechnology innovation to respond rapidly to emerging outbreaks and empower countries at risk to meet their local vaccine needs.
The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub, led by Imperial College London, collaborates with the Universities of Bristol, Kings College London, and Strathclyde, the CPI, and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Partnerships extend to GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health, Cytiva, Centillion Ltd, Sartorius BIA Separations, and Fuji Film Diosynth Biotechnologies. Manufacturing research projects will involve key partners, including Incepta in Bangladesh, VABIOTECH in Vietnam, and BioVac in South Africa.
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Catalyzing Vaccine Manufacturing in Africa
The Chanjo Hub, led by Professor Faith Osier, focuses on catalyzing the local ecosystem required for establishing vaccine manufacturing in Kenya and Ghana. Africa’s high burden of endemic infectious diseases has prompted the call to manufacture 60% of the continent’s vaccine needs by 2040, compared to the current 1%. To address this urgent need, the Chanjo Hub is committed to developing local vaccine manufacturing capacity for responding to endemic and epidemic diseases prevalent in Africa.
The Chanjo Hub will initially concentrate on developing an experimental malaria vaccine as a prototype for vaccine manufacturing in LMICs. The project will assess the feasibility, scalability, cost-competitiveness, long-term economic viability, and social attitudes related to two technology platforms: mRNA and egg-based manufacturing. These platforms are not only relevant to endemic diseases in LMICs but also play a crucial role in preparing for seasonal outbreaks and future pandemics in high-income countries. The Chanjo Hub is a testament to collaborative efforts, led by African scientists and international partners, aiming to accelerate global access to vaccines and treatments. The program is characterized by a gender-balanced leadership team and a diverse scientific approach, encompassing various disciplines to address the complex challenges in vaccine development and distribution.
The global collaboration among these four vaccine hubs and their commitment to innovative and cost-effective vaccine manufacturing technologies promise to address the world’s pressing health challenges. By developing locally adaptable vaccines for endemic and epidemic diseases, the initiatives work towards achieving equitable vaccine access, improving global immunization coverage, and enhancing preparedness for future pandemics. These collaborations signify the importance of global cooperation in shaping a brighter and healthier future for all.