The University of Texas Medical Branch was awarded an agreement of nearly $25 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop prototype vaccines against multiple diseases in collaboration with Moderna on Monday.
The following prototype vaccines are planned for development:
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- Ebola (EBOV)
- Sudan (SUDV)
- Marburg (MARV)
- Lassa (LASV)
A news release stated that these diseases cause symptoms such as fever, malaise, myalgia, hemorrhage, and death.
The agreement comes with $13.5 million dollars of the filovirus vaccines through the completion of a Phase 1 trial, which will take place at UTMB’s Institute of Vaccine Sciences. The project could also receive up to an additional $11.1 million if additional options are provided to model alternative routes of vaccine administration or infection.
According to a news release, Dr. Alexander Bukreyev, UTMB researcher, will lead the project as principal investigator along with co-investigators Dr. Thomas Geisbert and Dr. Richard Rupp. They will conduct preclinical evaluation, non-clinical testing, and human clinical trials.
UTMB says there are currently no vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa.