The United States of America has said that a new phase of Lassa fever vaccine clinical trials is set to begin in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This was disclosed in a statement on Monday by the Public Affairs Unit of the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria.
According to the statement, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative was awarded €22.8 million by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to conduct a Phase IIB trial of the IAVI Lassa fever vaccine candidate among adults and children in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The statement also disclosed that the vaccine candidate which uses a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus vector is now registered for use in eight African countries.
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The statement read, “This joint award supports an international collaboration across Africa, Europe, and North America, called the ‘Lassa Fever Vaccine Efficacy and Prevention for West Africa’ which will also strengthen the research capacity of investigational sites where Lassa fever outbreaks and disease occur frequently.
“The LEAP4WA consortium consists of the following members: IAVI Inc., U.S.; IAVI Sichting, Netherlands; Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, U.S.; Ministry of Health and Sanitation/Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone; Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, U.K.; University of Liberia, Liberia; Epicentre, France; and Henry M. Jackson Foundation Medical Research International Ltd/Gte(HJFMRI), Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, HJFMRI will conduct the study at its Clinical Research Centre (CRC) supported by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
“Other supported WRAIR Lassa projects being implemented at the CRC and other sites across Nigeria include a Lassa incidence study in collaboration with the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, a Lassa seroprevalence study, and a potential opportunity for a CEPI-funded Phase IIa Lassa vaccine study through a WRAIR/IAVI collaboration.”
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