Moderna gets $60M CEPI backing for mRNA candidate

CEPI said on June 1 it would commit about $60 million to speed development of vaccines against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a species behind the 2026 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The biggest share — up to $50 million — went to Moderna for preclinical and early clinical development of an investigational mRNA vaccine candidate, according to CEPI. The funding package also included up to $8.6 million for a University of Oxford candidate manufactured by Serum Institute of India and an initial $3.2 million for a vaccine being developed by IAVI. The timing matters because the World Health Organization said the 2026 outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment. WHO said the outbreak was confirmed in May 2026 and is unfolding in a difficult setting marked by insecurity, population movement and strained health systems. ### Why is Moderna getting most of the money? (cepi.net) CEPI said Moderna’s award is designed to support preclinical and early clinical work on a Bundibugyo vaccine built on the company’s mRNA platform. CEPI said the candidate draws on Moderna’s earlier research on related Ebola viruses and could move through development using manufacturing tools refined during the COVID-19 response. (who.int) The size of the award also reflects how CEPI split the package across three programs. Reuters, cited by ASCP, reported that CEPI earmarked up to $50 million for Moderna, up to $8.6 million for Oxford and Serum Institute of India, and $3.2 million initially for IAVI. (cepi.net) ### What is Oxford doing at the same time? Oxford said on July 13 it launched the world’s first Phase I trial of a vaccine against Bundibugyo ebolavirus. The study, known as BD-Ebov, is being run by the Oxford Vaccine Group in the United Kingdom and is testing a ChAdOx1-based candidate developed in response to the outbreak. (ascp.org) Oxford said on July 24 that the first volunteer had been vaccinated in the trial. The university said the candidate uses technology related to the platform behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. ### Why are Bundibugyo vaccines being developed now? WHO said the current outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which has no licensed vaccine, unlike the Zaire species that has an approved shot. (ox.ac.uk) CEPI said its new funding is meant to accelerate candidates specifically targeting Bundibugyo rather than relying on vaccines designed for other Ebola species. (ox.ac.uk) CDC said in a September MMWR report that the 2026 outbreak had become the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record and had reached 5,458 confirmed cases and 2,606 confirmed deaths as of August 21. That report described a rapidly growing outbreak and detailed U.S. monitoring and response steps. ### What about treatments and the “unlinked cases” figure? WHO said there is no specific treatment approved for Bundibugyo ebolavirus, though work is underway on promising candidates. (who.int) The social-media post that surfaced this funding also referred to monoclonal antibody combinations in development and said more than 80% of recent cases were epidemiologically unlinked; that figure is consistent with broader reporting that many new infections were not tied to known contact chains, a sign investigators were missing transmission links. (cdc.gov) CDC’s outbreak reports show why that matters operationally: when cases are not linked to known contacts, tracing and isolation become harder, and vaccine and treatment trials have to proceed alongside a still-expanding response. ### What comes next for the funded programs? CEPI said Moderna’s next steps are preclinical and early clinical development, with later-stage work dependent on early data. (who.int) Oxford’s next visible milestone is continued enrollment and readouts from the BD-Ebov Phase I study in the UK, while IAVI’s program remains in earlier development under its initial CEPI award. (cepi.net) (cdc.gov)