Ebola vaccine agreement between Crucell and NIH

Dutch antibody and vaccine company Crucell has entered into a co-operative r&d agreement with the vaccine research centre of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to jointly develop a vaccine against Ebola virus, one of the deadliest diseases known to man. The NIH is the US's prime medical research institute. Under the terms of the agreement Crucell obtains an option on exclusive worldwide commercialisation rights to the Ebola vaccine resulting from this collaboration.

The vaccine will be based on Crucell's novel proprietary vaccination platform, AdVac, and will be produced on Crucell's human designer cell line PER.C6. AdVac will be equipped with optimised Ebola genes that have been created by researchers from the NIAID. AdVac technology builds on an adenovirus-based vaccination vector that has been optimised to present antigens efficiently to the human immune system, allowing for safe and potent vaccines to be produced in large quantities.

Researchers at the NIAID, led by Dr Gary Nabel, Director of the Vaccine Research Center, have taken the first steps towards creating an Ebola vaccine by developing an experimental adenovirus-based vaccine. This experimental vaccine was capable of preventing Ebola fever in monkeys.