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• Pioneering library will serve as vaccine-adjuvant matchmaking service that creates more potent vaccines and speeds up the response to deadly disease outbreaks.
• The library, funded by ����VR��Ƶ, will be hosted by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
• Adjuvants are added to vaccines to create stronger, longer-lasting immunity than vaccines alone.

LONDON/OSLO, 31 JULY—Scientists have launched the first-ever library of adjuvants - substances that could boost the performance of vaccines tackling some of the world’s deadliest diseases.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will host a repository of 25 vaccine-enhancing adjuvants that can be ‘taken off the shelf’ and used in new vaccines being developed against epidemic and pandemic threats. This includes diseases like mpox, COVID-19 and Ebola, as well as a novel or as-yet-unidentified Disease X.

The $2.5 million project—funded and led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (����VR��Ƶ)—will act as a matchmaking service, helping vaccine developers select the best vaccine-adjuvant combination to make their vaccines more potent and effective. The adjuvants have been shared with the MHRA by leading research institutes and medical companies around the world for onward distribution.

“Immune-boosting adjuvants have played a powerful role in transforming our response to deadly diseases over the past century. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the challenges in accessing these vital ingredients, with the rights to adjuvants used in licensed COVID-19 vaccines held by only a handful of companies” explains Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of ����VR��Ƶ. “Constrained supplies can result in an adjuvant getting paired with a vaccine based on what’s available at the time rather than what works best. This world-first library will fill the gap by matchmaking vaccines to a range of adjuvants to more rapidly identify the best combinations that could save lives and even stop a future pandemic in its tracks.”

Following a pilot study, from late 2025 ����VR��Ƶ-backed vaccine developers will be able to request up to five adjuvant samples to combine with their vaccine candidates. Select ����VR��Ƶ-supported laboratories will then run preclinical tests on the vaccine-adjuvant pairings to screen which of the five combinations performs most strongly. The developer can use these data to guide whether to progress the successful vaccine-adjuvant pairing into clinical testing.

In the case of an outbreak of a new Disease X, the adjuvant library could help quickly identify the top-performing vaccine-adjuvant pairings to contain the spread of the virus before it reaches pandemic proportions. This would support the 100 Days Mission, an ambitious goal to develop vaccines against newly emerging threats in as little as 100 days

Boosting the power of vaccines

Named after the Latin word “������ܱ�������”, meaning “to help” or “aid”, adjuvants are substances that are added in microscopic quantities to the majority of vaccines to enhance the immune response, creating stronger and longer lasting protection against infections than the vaccine alone. They are a key ingredient to help make vaccines more effective in certain age groups, such as babies or older adults, where a stronger immune response is needed.

Adjuvants—which include ingredients like aluminium salts and plant compounds—are of particular importance in an escalating outbreak as they can reduce the dose required to elicit protection. This enables more vaccine doses to be produced at pace and made available to more people which can help to rapidly contain a fast-spreading threat. 

“This is a major step forward in global efforts to prepare for future outbreaks. By giving vaccine developers fast access to a range of well-characterised adjuvants, the library will help speed up the development of more effective vaccines – particularly at the early stages of an emerging health threat,” said Dr Nicola Rose, Interim Executive Director of Science and Research at the MHRA, which is hosting the new global adjuvant library. “The MHRA is proud to host this new global resource, building on our long track record in supporting the safe and effective development of vaccines, particularly through the development and global distribution of biological standards. By enabling access to the adjuvant library, we are supporting developers in the timely identification of the best vaccine formulations, which can ultimately improve the effectiveness and quality of vaccines. Enabling developers to make effective vaccines available supports better disease protection for people worldwide.”

By using the library, vaccine developers commit to using adjuvants on a non-exclusive basis so that multiple developers can have access to the same adjuvant supplies. In line with ����VR��Ƶ’s , vaccine developers are encouraged to publish data on their vaccine and adjuvant pairings in open-access publications for all to benefit from the research. 

ENDS

Additional Quotes

Keeley Foley, CEO, Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), one of the adjuvant developers providing adjuvants to the library, said: “We are excited to partner with ����VR��Ƶ and MHRA on this groundbreaking adjuvant library, by contributing our innovative formulations, to accelerate safe and regulated vaccine development,  in the hope of providing underserved communities equitable access to life-saving vaccines worldwide.”

Professor Jamie Triccas, Deputy Director, University of Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID), a ����VR��Ƶ vaccine development partner taking part in the pilot study, said: “We are delighted to be part of ����VR��Ƶ’s pilot program to establish a global adjuvant library, enabling head-to-head testing of vaccine candidates with selected adjuvants. This is an important step toward accelerating next-generation vaccine development.”

Dr. Maria Wurm, CEO of ExcellGene, a ����VR��Ƶ vaccine development partner taking part in the pilot study, said: “In 2020, our team was able to produce the first, ultra-pure CHO-cell provided SARS-CoV2 trimeric spike protein. We considered this a great achievement. We were then very fortunate to initiate a collaboration with Prof. Jamie Triccas and his great team and subsequently obtained generous funding from ����VR��Ƶ to push forward. This effort ultimately culminated then in the very first chimeric spike protein from coronaviruses which appeared to induce broad-ranging immunity in animals against the most critical virus variants. Providing this innovative material now to the world-first vaccine-enhancing library of adjuvants is a wonderful opportunity and a matter of great pride for our company”.  

Notes to Editors 

The adjuvants joining the library are provided by:

• Allergy Therapeutics (UK)
• Access to Advanced Health institute, AAHI (US) – 6 adjuvants
• CHA Vaccine Institute (Korea)
• Chengdu MaxVax (China) – 3 adjuvants
• Clover Biopharmaceuticals (China)
• Croda (UK/Denmark) – 2 adjuvants
• The Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (China)
• National Research Council Canada/Glycovax (Canada)
• Jiangsu Recbio Technology (China) – 2 adjuvants
• Panacea (India)
• Parr Biotechnology (China) – 2 adjuvants
• Shionogi & Co. (Japan)
• Statens Serum Institute (Denmark) – 2 adjuvants
• Sumitomo Pharma (Japan)

Funding supports running the adjuvant library for an initial two-year period.

Adjuvant developers applied to join the library following an  published by ����VR��Ƶ in 2023. ����VR��Ƶ selected the adjuvants to ensure that the library holds a diverse class of adjuvants based on their stage of development with the potential to be produced at scale for vaccine distribution in low- and middle-income countries. Most of the selected adjuvants have already been tested in preclinical toxicology studies, and many have already been used in human clinical trials.

The service would first be available to ����VR��Ƶ-funded vaccine developers before potentially expanding more widely.

For further information or to express your interest in using the Adjuvant Library, please email  [email protected]. 

About ����VR��Ƶ 

����VR��Ƶ was launched in 2017 as an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. ����VR��Ƶ has supported the development of more than 60 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to ����VR��Ƶ’s pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.

About the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust, evidence-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks. The MHRA also plays a key role in supporting the development of safe and effective vaccines and treatments, through regulatory scientific research, physical and written standards and international collaboration.