New CEPI call for proposals to transform response to future epidemic and pandemic viral threats

A new call for proposals, Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics, invites applications from innovators seeking to speed up the development of, and equitable access to, safe and effective vaccines against epidemic and pandemic viral threats.

This call will initially support transformative innovations in vaccine platforms, manufacturing technologies, and vaccine candidates against high-risk viruses, which are critical to the success of the 100 Days Mission.

24 October, 2023; OSLO, Norway: The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has launched a new call for proposals seeking Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics. This new call aims to speed up innovations in R&D and manufacturing for vaccines against viral pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, including currently unknown viruses (also known as Disease X) capable of infecting and causing disease in humans.

Innovations supported by this call will help the world to better prepare for future epidemic and pandemic threats and support progress towards the 100 Days Mission—a goal spearheaded by CEPI, and embraced by the G7 and G20, which aims to accelerate the development of safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against emerging disease outbreaks so that they can be authorised within 100 days of a new disease's emergence.

Supporting transformative innovations

Through the Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics call for proposals CEPI will advance cutting-edge vaccine development and manufacturing science and technologies that will contribute to speed, scale and equitable access during future outbreak response. It initially invites applications across three Focus Areas:

Focus Area 1: advancing innovative rapid-response vaccine platforms that can transform the response to a future Disease X.

Focus Area 2: developing new vaccine candidates against CEPI priority pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential and viral families.

Focus Area 3: advancing manufacturing innovations that improve vaccine scalability and equitable access.

Additional Focus Areas may be introduced and updated over time as R&D gaps and needs are identified and addressed. All proposals submitted as part of this call will undergo an accelerated review process.


100 Days Mission and equitable access

The ability to deliver safe and effective vaccines and other countermeasures within 100 days of a viral threat emerging will systematically reduce the threat posed by future infectious disease outbreaks. CEPI's 100 Days Mission has equity at its core, and it is underpinned by an ambitious R&D and manufacturing agenda targeted at increasing the speed and equality with which the world can respond to new disease threats.

As the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare, many technical hurdles to developing and enabling access to life-saving vaccines still remain including the speed with which such products can be manufactured; how manufacturing can be scaled-up and scaled-out; the costs of production and stockpiling of vaccines; method of administration; thermostability and associated cold-chain requirements; and affordability. The Focus Areas in this call for proposals have been specifically designed to help address these technical challenges and bring the world another step closer to achieving the 100 Days Mission.


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Notes to Editors

Further details about the Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics call for proposals, including eligibility criteria and guidance on how to apply, are available here.

The Innovations to Prepare for Future Epidemics and Pandemics call for proposals complements recent funding calls, including the currently open call for Vaccine Manufacturability Focused on Speed which closes on 15 December 2023.



About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017. 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.

CEPI has supported the development of over 30 vaccine candidates against its priority pathogens—Chikungunya virus, Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and SARS-CoV-2—and is a leading funder of research into broadly protective coronavirus vaccines, which could protect against future variants of COVID-19 as well as other coronaviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. The organization has also invested in the development of rapid response platforms to develop vaccines against Disease X (the threat of an unknown virus).

CEPI has overseen a number of scientific breakthroughs, including the first Phase 3 trial of a Chikungunya vaccine and the advancement of the first ever Nipah and Lassa vaccines into Phase 1 trials. The organization played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, supporting the development of one of the world's largest portfolios of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, seven of which have been approved for domestic or global use. It also co-led COVAX, the global initiative to deliver fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, which has delivered approximately 2 billion doses of vaccine to 146 countries around the world.

CEPI's five-year plan for 2022-2026 aims to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this ‘100 Days Mission', which has been embraced by the G7 and G20, would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it can spread to become a global pandemic.

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