IAVI and Merck Collaborate to Develop Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2

Merck and IAVI, a nonprofit scientific research organization dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges, are collaborating to develop an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 to be used for the prevention of COVID-19. This vaccine candidate will use the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) technology that is the basis for Merck’s Ebola Zaire virus vaccine, ERVEBO (Ebola Zaire Vaccine, Live), which was the first rVSV vaccine approved for use in humans. Merck has also signed an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to provide initial funding support for this effort.
 
Under the agreement, IAVI and Merck will work together to advance the development and global clinical evaluation of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate designed and engineered by IAVI scientists. The vaccine candidate is in preclinical development, and clinical studies are planned to start later in 2020. Merck will lead regulatory filings globally. Both organizations will work together to develop the vaccine and make it accessible and affordable globally, if approved.
 
IAVI’s rVSV vaccine preclinical development, including work on the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, is being done by scientists at IAVI’s Design and Development Laboratory (DDL) in Brooklyn, New York. This program is part of a long-standing effort to develop rVSV vaccines for HIV as well as other emerging infectious diseases such as Lassa fever, Marburg, and Ebola Sudan disease, under the leadership of Dr. Swati Gupta, head of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Scientific Strategy, IAVI.
 
“We believe an rVSV-based vaccine strategy represents a promising approach to combating the novel coronavirus pandemic and look forward to implementing an accelerated development program, together with Merck, to evaluate the potential of our vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. The collaboration between Merck and IAVI represents an innovative partnership model and approach to utilize our joint capabilities in complementary and synergistic ways to address this difficult global health challenge,” said Dr. Mark Feinberg, IAVI president and CEO.
 
“A safe, effective vaccine will help prevent future outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2,” said BARDA Acting Director Gary Disbrow, Ph.D. “We are encouraged by the willingness of our private sector counterparts to come together as force multipliers to expedite vaccine development and to help save lives.”