EVI: Maintaining a Robust Vaccine Portfolio to Combat Diseases of Poverty

Technology: ChAd63-KH (Vaccine)

Product Type: Vaccine

Disease area: Leishmaniasis

Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions; however, developing vaccines is a notoriously lengthy, costly and difficult process. To ensure ultimate success, the development of urgently needed vaccines requires the existence of a robust and diverse pipeline of vaccine candidates at different stages of the development process. The European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) plays an important role in this process as it feeds the vaccine development pipeline for different diseases with novel and innovative vaccine candidates and supports their progression through the development path.

To date, EVI has supported the development of more than 40 different vaccine formulations from pre-clinical to early and mid-stage clinical development for a variety of diseases/pathogens, including malaria, leishmaniasis, diarrheal diseases, and emerging infectious diseases. These new vaccines, once available, will not only reduce mortality and morbidity but will have an enormous socioeconomic impact, especially in LMICs, which are hardest hit by these diseases and where the benefits of vaccination are expected to be greatest.

Among the projects in its diverse portfolio, EVI is currently evaluating ChAd63-KH as a vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL; kala azar) and post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL), a skin disease that follows treatment for VL. Leishmaniases are poverty-related neglected diseases with a major impact on global health. They affect the poorest of the poor in nearly 100 countries with over 1 billion people living in areas endemic for leishmaniasis, resulting in more than 1 million new cases every year. Some forms of leishmaniasis are chronic and non-life-threatening, but VL forms are life-threatening. Collectively, approximately 2.4 million disability-adjusted life years (DALY) are lost to the leishmaniases. No vaccines are currently licensed for any form of human leishmaniasis.

The stigma and isolation resulting from having multiple PKDL lesions on the face, limbs, and trunk significantly reduce quality of life, particularly for children and women. In addition, PKDL is widely considered a threat to the elimination of VL, with recent modeling of VL epidemiology indicating that a vaccine to prevent PKDL would help sustain elimination targets.

“Vaccines have a unique ability to prevent and control infectious diseases, including some of the world’s most devastating yet neglected conditions. EVI is proud to work with the University of York and other partners in developing a vaccine against one of these conditions, namely leishmaniasis. By developing vaccines that can either treat or prevent post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis we can reduce the impact of this disease, whilst at the same time reducing the spread of fatal visceral leishmaniasis in the community.”

—DR. OLE OLESEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EVI

The ongoing ChAd63-KH development program—funded by European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) and the Wellcome Trust—is being carried out in partnership with the University of York and Sudan’s Institute of Endemic Diseases (IEND), with additional regional capacity building for vaccine research being conducted across East Africa. This promising vaccine candidate is currently in late-stage (Phase IIB) development.