Queensland researchers are attempting to create a vaccine in just 150 days to prove how far their response capabilities to a viral pandemic have come since COVID-19.
The clock started on 10 February for Â鶹Çø’s , which has been tasked with producing the first vaccine for the little-known but potentially fatal Bolivian Chapare virus.
Team leader said the ‘pressure test’ at Â鶹Çø’s is backed by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
“Our goal is to get as close as possible to achieving CEPI’s aspirational ‘100 Days Mission’ to create a vaccine from scratch in just over three months when faced with a new pandemic threat,” Professor Chappell said.
“It took a little less than a year for the first safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to be developed and approved for use,” Professor Chappell said.
“That’s an astonishing timeframe to develop a medical defence system, but it still wasn’t quick enough to prevent COVID-19 from surging across the world,” Professor Chappell said.
“While we might not know when or where the next viral threat will emerge, we can improve how quickly we respond and hopefully save more lives.”
Professor Chappell’s team was given their target virus for the pressure test in March, in a deliberate challenge from CEPI designed to mimic the sudden emergence of a viral threat.
The Â鶹Çø Rapid Response Vaccine Team will now produce 26 vaccine candidates using its re-engineered molecular clamp technology, which successfully completed a proof-of-concept phase I clinical trial last year.
A clinical grade batch of the most promising candidate will be produced, and the process fully documented and reviewed for CEPI to keep on hand for potential future use.
The Chapare virus is currently only known to occur in Bolivia and causes a severe haemorrhagic fever.
There have been five documented outbreaks since the disease emerged in 2003, with a laboratory-confirmed case reported in January this year.
CEPI project leader Dr Nicole Bézay said the team’s work could make it much quicker to produce a vaccine should there be a significant outbreak of the Chapare virus, but the main focus is on testing and improving the vaccine development process for the re-engineered clamp technology.
“Our partnership with the Â鶹Çø team is about safeguarding the world from the threat of unknown viruses with pandemic potential,” Dr Bézay said.
Professor Chappell acknowledged that building a working vaccine for Chapare within CEPI’s 100-day target was a ‘moonshot’, but completing the task in 150 days would represent an ‘astonishing advance’ in his team’s capabilities.
“This pressure test is ultimately designed to show us where the pain points are in moving so quickly, to show us what works, and what doesn’t work when making a new vaccine,” he said.
“We want to prove that the combination of our Clamp2 technology and the people we have in the team is able to generate a safe and effective vaccine within a highly accelerated timeline.”
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