IAVI to Advance Vaccine Candidate for Bundibugyo Virus, Receives Funding from CEPI
WHO identifies rVSV-based candidate as a top priority amid growing Ebola epidemic with no approved countermeasures
Key points:
-
WHO urges development of Bundibugyo virus-specific vaccines and identifies IAVI’s rVSV-based candidate as the most promising option in the pipeline
-
IAVI mobilizing funding and partnerships to accelerate development
-
rVSV platform used in licensed Zaire ebolavirus vaccine and in recent Sudan virus outbreak response
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / June 1, 2026 / IAVI, a global nonprofit biomedical research organization, today announced that it has reached an agreement with The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) allowing IAVI to develop a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based vaccine candidate targeting Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), the orthoebolavirus responsible for the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. Also today, CEPI, a global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats, announced that it is awarding IAVI $3.2M to accelerate early development of the vaccine candidate. This follows an agreement by the Government of the Netherlands to reallocate funds to help accelerate the BDBV program from the emergency award they provided IAVI for Sudan virus vaccine work.
The candidate, developed by UTMB’s Thomas Geisbert, Ph.D., and colleagues, with crucial earlier work by Andrea Marzi, Ph.D., and Heinz Feldmann, M.D., Ph.D., and their teams at the Laboratory of Virology, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has demonstrated protective efficacy in nonhuman primate studies[1,2] but has not yet been evaluated in humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) determined that IAVI’s one-dose rVSV vaccine candidate is the most promising BDBV vaccine candidate in the pipeline and said that it should be prioritized for evaluation in clinical trials.[3]
There are currently no approved vaccines or therapeutics specifically targeting BDBV, and only two outbreaks have been caused by this virus before the current epidemic.
IAVI has moved urgently to bring the research vaccine candidate in-house to our Vaccine Design & Development Lab in Jersey City, New Jersey, where our scientists are already initiating the steps required to advance it toward use in a clinical trial. This includes preparing the candidate for manufacturing and transferring the vaccine virus and processes to a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) production.
“We are acting with urgency to advance this candidate quickly and responsibly,” said Mark Feinberg, M.D., Ph.D., IAVI CEO and president. “While significant work remains, including definition of accelerated pathways for clinical evaluation and regulatory review, we believe it is important to expedite development of this vaccine candidate to explore its potential to help address a pathogen for which no countermeasures currently exist and that is causing a tragically increasing number of deaths, serious illness, and grave disruption across a wide region.”
IAVI is working closely with partners to align efforts and to rapidly raise additional funding to support the full range of vaccine development activities. The organization is engaging with regional and global health authorities to coordinate this effort as part of a broader response.
IAVI has recent experience supporting outbreak response efforts using the same rVSV vaccine platform. In 2025, the organization supplied a Sudan virus vaccine candidate[4] for use during the Uganda Ebola outbreak, where it was deployed in a ring vaccination trial in collaboration with global and national partners.
The rVSV platform is used in MSD’s approved and WHO-prequalified vaccine for the prevention of Zaire ebolavirus, a different orthoebolavirus from Bundibugyo virus, and offers a potential pathway for accelerated vaccine development to address outbreak pathogens.[5]
Although this work is at an early stage, IAVI is committed to advancing the candidate as quickly as possible, with the goal of making it available for evaluation in the current epidemic if timing allows and in alignment with the priorities of health authorities.
We will provide further updates as this effort progresses and additional milestones are reached.
Notes
[1] Mire CE, Geisbert JB, Marzi A, Agans KN, Feldmann H, Geisbert TW. Vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccines protect nonhuman primates against Bundibugyo ebolavirus. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2013 Dec 19;7(12):e2600.
[2] Woolsey et al. A Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Based Vaccine Provides Postexposure Protection Against Bundibugyo Ebolavirus Infection. J Infect Dis. 2023 Nov 15;228(Suppl 7):S712-S720.
[3] World Health Organization. Experts convened by WHO advise on candidate treatments and vaccines for Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus. May 28, 2026.
[4] In 2022, MSD, known as Merck in the United States and Canada, produced and donated to IAVI vials of investigational Sudan virus vaccine from existing investigational drug substance to supplement IAVI’s ongoing Sudan virus vaccine development program. IAVI now acts as developer and regulatory sponsor and is responsible for all aspects of future development of the Sudan virus vaccine candidate.
[5] World Health Organization. Ebola virus disease vaccines. Oct. 16, 2025.
###
About IAVI
IAVI is a global nonprofit biomedical research organization dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges, including emerging infectious diseases, through the development of vaccines and antibodies.
Media Contact
Karie Youngdahl
Head, Global Communications
kyoungdahl@iavi.org
SOURCE: IAVI
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
