Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 16 January, the European Commission announced that it was to earmark €114 million of the EU budget (framework programme for research and innovation 'Horizon 2020') for the funding of eight new research projects to fight the Ebola virus. Pharmaceutical companies will also be making a contribution, of a further €101 million.
Through these eight projects, the Commission hopes to combine four areas of research, with the aim of being able to offer a vaccine as soon as possible (there are none currently authorised), to tackle a virus which has so far left at least 8,459 people dead (out of 21,329 official cases), according to the latest WHO figures published on Thursday 15 January.
The first area consists of assessing the safety and effectiveness of the various “candidate vaccines”, with three separate research projects (VSV-EBOVAC, EBOVAC1 and EBOVAC2), which will together receive €85 million from the EU budget through the new programme Ebola+, in the framework of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). €47.8 million will be added by the private sector.
But once a vaccine has been authorised, it will still be necessary to ensure that it can be produced quickly and in large quantities. The second research area aims to tackle this problem, with a single project (EBOMAN) consisting of devising an adequate production platform. The EU will fund it to the tune of €1 million and private business will put in €47.6 million.
The effectiveness of a vaccine depends, amongst other things, on the dosage used. In the case of Ebola, two doses of vaccine may prove necessary to ensure ongoing protection. A new project (EBODAC) will therefore aim to raise public awareness of vaccination campaigns and ensure that patients make sure they take vaccines requiring two doses properly. The EU will provide €20.3 million for this, with the private sector to chip in €5.4 million.
Lastly, a further essential point is identifying who has been contaminated. There are currently no fast and reliable tests. Three projects (Mofina, FILODIAG and EbolaMoDRAD) will try to create fast diagnostic tests, with the aim of giving a reliable result in just 15 minutes. The total funding for this is €7.6 million, which will be borne in full by the EU. (JK)