Phase 1 clinical development
A platform approach to vaccine development
All of IAVI’s emerging infectious disease vaccines use the same technology behind Merck’s Ebolavirus vaccine, ERVEBO®, which is licensed in more than a dozen countries.
IAVI and our partners are developing a single-dose vaccine candidate for protection against MARV. Several vaccine candidates are in development for MARV, but none has yet been approved.
MARV (family Filoviridae) causes a severe and often fatal viral hemorrhagic illness called Marburg virus disease (MVD), with similar symptoms to Ebola virus disease and a high case fatality rate (CFR). Past MVD outbreaks have been sporadic and deadly, with CFRs of up to 88%. In response to this public health threat, IAVI is developing a vaccine against MARV with the goal ultimately to help prevent and contain future outbreaks.
The virus is included in the World Health Organization’s Pathogens prioritization: a scientific framework for epidemic and pandemic research, which identifiespathogens for which there is an urgent need for accelerated R&D and countermeasures. Developing vaccines for MARV is a matter of global health security due to its epidemic, pandemic, or even bioweapon potential.
IAVI’s MARV vaccine candidate (rVSV∆G-MARV-GP) has generated consistently strong preclinical data. A single intramuscular vaccination of non-human primates (NHPs) with MARV vaccine completely protected animals against challenge with MARV. Intranasal vaccination in NHPs was similarly protective. Based on these promising results, a Phase 1 clinical trial (IAVI C104) of the vaccine candidate is scheduled to begin in late 2025. IAVI’s MARV research and development program is funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Some preclinical work was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.
More about MARV
Intranasal delivery
In a preclinical challenge study, animals vaccinated with IAVI’s intranasal MARV vaccine candidate were completely protected against MARV disease following an aerosolized MARV challenge. The study was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.
