New CEPI funding opportunity aims to speed up COVID-19 vaccine production

The search for potential COVID-19 vaccines continues, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has issued a call for proposals that could put funds in the hands of organizations with plans to boost development, manufacturing and geographic reach of vaccine candidates.

The funding opportunity will run on a rolling basis until at least June 30. The goal is the rapid development of vaccines that could be up for licensure within 12-18 and extend the global deployment of available vaccines. By expanding its portfolio, CEPI hopes that it can increase the chances of a vaccine, making it past the finish line.

“Developing a vaccine during a pandemic is enormously challenging, and if we are to be successful, we have to increase our ‘shots at goal’,” Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said. “Developing and producing sufficient vaccines to put a permanent end to this pandemic is a Herculean task which calls for global collaboration on a scale we have rarely seen before. We are inviting organizations from around the world to work with us to accelerate the development of vaccines, manufacture them at huge scale, and make them available to those who need them most as soon as possible.”

CEPI estimates that billions of doses of vaccine will be needed to bring the pandemic to an end — and soon. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 has spawned more than 3,688,000 cases to date and killed more than 258,000 people worldwide.

Given the pressure on capacity, applicants will have to show an ability to both rapidly develop a vaccine and manufacture it at scale. Multinational companies, companies in the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN) and other vaccine and biologic developers are encouraged to apply, but in particular, those organizations which already possess resources to make a vaccine candidate available for specific regions, but need support to expand global development plans, run large clinical trials and widen their manufacturing footprint.