On May 31, 2026, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced it will urgently accelerate development of three investigational vaccines targeting the Bundibugyo ebolavirus that has caused a rapidly spreading epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Uganda. With no licensed vaccines available for Bundibugyo virus and none in clinical development, CEPI’s action reflects the critical need to produce tools to help curtail the outbreak, complementing ongoing public health interventions by affected countries.

CEPI will invest in a portfolio of candidates under development from longstanding partners with proven capabilities. These include candidates developed by IAVI; Moderna; and the University of Oxford, which will be manufactured at the Serum Institute of India (SII). As work on these candidates begins, CEPI will continue to evaluate additional promising candidates to strengthen the pipeline, including through an open Call for Proposals, and expects to announce additional partnerships shortly.

The current outbreak – declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Africa CDC, respectively – has already caused more than 900 suspected cases and more than 220 suspected deaths [1], making it the third largest Filovirus outbreak in history.

The three vaccine candidates were selected based on CEPI’s comprehensive global review of Bundibugyo virus vaccines in development and extensive consultation with WHO, Africa CDC, ANRS-MIE, Gavi and affected countries. Each uses a different validated vaccine technology to maximize the likelihood of success. 

All of the underlying vaccine technology platforms have extensive safety data and have been used to develop vaccine candidates that have shown preclinical or clinical efficacy against related filoviruses such as Zaire Ebola virus, Sudan virus and Marburg virus. The safety data accumulated with the platforms and this prior experience with related viruses strongly suggests that safe and effective vaccines can be developed against the Bundibugyo virus.

CEPI’s funding will rapidly advance each vaccine candidate so it is ready to begin clinical trials as quickly as possible. If Phase 1 trials are successful, CEPI anticipates working with partners to support late-stage trials to generate data for emergency use authorization or licensure.

CEPI has committed initial funding of up to US$3.2 million for preparations necessary to generate a Master Virus Seed stock – the starting material needed to manufacture a vaccine – and initiate testing of the seed in an established process using material originally developed at The University of Texas Medical Branch. This candidate uses the rVSV vaccine platform upon which an approved and WHO-prequalified vaccine against Zaire ebolavirus is based. Rapid onset of protective immunity after one dose is a key feature of vaccines using this platform, which is critical when vaccines are deployed in an outbreak setting.