CEPI to provide $188,000 in support of Universiti Malaya research into Nipah virus

Faced with a disease that tends to hit suddenly, erratically, and with extremely lethal effects, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced last week that it will provide up to $188,000 to support Universiti Malaya (UM) research into the Nipah virus.

UM, based in Malaysia, wants to collect biological material from Nipah survivors to better understand the virus and immune responses generated against it. Nipah is a zoonotic disease and one of the most deadly pathogens that currently infects humans, with a mortality rate between 40 and 90 percent. It is spread by contact with infected flying foxes, pigs or humans, or through contaminated food or food products. Infection can rapidly advance into the respiratory and central nervous systems and even lead to severe brain inflammation.

The World Health Organization lists Nipah as an emerging infectious disease requiring urgent research and development efforts and warns of its epidemic potential.

“Nipah virus remains a deadly risk to South and Southeast Asia, and it is pivotal that we continue to progress our scientific knowledge of this epidemic threat,” Melanie Saville, director of Vaccine Research and Development at CEPI, said. “I am therefore delighted to welcome UM to the coalition, providing CEPI and the global scientific community with critical information to aid our understanding of the virus. As Malaysia was the country where the Nipah virus was first discovered back in 1998, this new partnership will also provide us with a unique opportunity to better understand and learn from the historical, scientific, and cultural aspects surrounding the initial response to a previously unknown pathogen.”

For its research, UM will work with physicians and healthcare responders to the Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia in 1998/1999 — the first documented outbreak there. By focusing on these survivors, UM will potentially gain valuable information on survivor biology and long-term immunity, if any. Biological material collected could also be used for the development of vaccine tests and reference tools.

Nipah virus currently has no vaccines or therapeutics approved for human use, and CEPI is pushing hard to change this, with four vaccine candidates in its portfolio to date. They are still years away from finalizing their safety and immunogenicity, though. In the meantime, biological material collected from Nipah survivors in this UM study will be used to create an interim antibody standard and, potentially, the development of an international standard — a pool of serum samples from those who have infected and recovered from a disease, and by which vaccines’ capabilities can be judged.