€15.3 Million ACT-CHIK Project Launches to Advance Chikungunya Vaccine Clinical Trials and Manufacturing in Africa
Key Insights
A new €15.3 million EU-funded project, ACT-CHIK, will conduct a Phase Ib/III trial of the MV-CHIK chikungunya (search) vaccine across Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal, enrolling 940 participants including adults, adolescents, and children.
The MV-CHIK vaccine uses a measles virus Schwarz strain vector and has demonstrated satisfactory safety and immunogenicity in six prior Phase I/II trials involving approximately 600 adults.
The four-year initiative will prepare technology transfer of vaccine manufacturing to Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Africa's only WHO-prequalified vaccine manufacturer, supporting the African Union's goal of producing 60% of vaccines locally by 2040.
A major multinational initiative to accelerate clinical development and local manufacturing of a chikungunya (search) vaccine in Africa has officially launched, backed by €15.3 million in funding from the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon Europe program. The ACT-CHIK project (Accelerating Clinical Trials for CHIKungunya Vaccine in Africa), coordinated by Institut Pasteur, brings together seven partner institutions across four continents for a four-year effort spanning May 2026 to April 2030.
The project centers on MV-CHIK, a live-attenuated, recombinant chikungunya (search) vaccine that uses the well-established measles virus Schwarz vaccine strain (search) as a vector — a platform technology originally developed at Institut Pasteur in Paris. Six Phase I and II clinical trials conducted in Europe, the United States, and Puerto Rico, encompassing approximately 600 adult participants, have already demonstrated satisfactory safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity profiles for the candidate.
A Growing Public Health Threat
Chikungunya (search) is a mosquito-borne viral disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The disease causes debilitating symptoms including high fever, severe joint pain that can persist for months or even years, headache, rash, and fatigue. Over the past two decades, reported chikungunya cases across Africa have risen sharply, yet the disease remains largely underdiagnosed and under-reported, particularly in regions where multiple arboviruses and malaria co-circulate. Climate change is further expanding the range of mosquito vectors, increasing outbreak risk across the globe and most notably in Africa.
Although chikungunya (search) vaccines have recently become available, their use remains limited largely among travelers, with cost and access constraints hindering deployment in endemic regions. The MV-CHIK candidate represents a different approach grounded in public health priorities: it is designed to be accessible to populations in endemic areas and aims to support local production.
Phase Ib/III Trial Design
Building on encouraging earlier results, ACT-CHIK will conduct a Phase Ib/III multicenter, international clinical trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of MV-CHIK in adults aged 18–55 years, adolescents aged 12–17 years, and children aged 5–11 years living in Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. The trial will enroll 940 participants across both endemic and non-endemic areas, generating essential data to advance the clinical development plan for African populations, including younger age groups.
"Chikungunya (search) remains a neglected disease in Africa despite its growing burden. ACT-CHIK represents a unique opportunity to generate critical clinical data in the populations that need this vaccine most, while simultaneously building the foundation for regional vaccine manufacturing on the continent," said Dr. Sotiris Missailidis, ACT-CHIK Project Coordinator at Institut Pasteur.
Strengthening Africa's Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity
Beyond clinical evaluation, the project carries a strategic manufacturing dimension. ACT-CHIK will conduct comprehensive due diligence, gap analysis, and prepare for technology transfer of the MV-CHIK vaccine manufacturing process to the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD), Africa's only WHO-prequalified vaccine manufacturer. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz (search)) in Brazil, a fellow member of the Pasteur Network, will prepare clinical trial materials and contribute its extensive vaccine manufacturing expertise to the technology transfer process.
The project will also develop a regulatory pathway for licensure of MV-CHIK in Africa through engagement with national regulatory authorities and World Health Organization prequalification teams. ACT-CHIK directly supports the African Union's ambition to produce 60% of the continent's vaccine needs locally by 2040 and aligns with the European Union's Team Europe Initiative on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines (TEI MAV+).
"ACT-CHIK will mobilize the full breadth of expertise at Institut Pasteur de Dakar: from clinical trials to cutting-edge virology and immunology laboratories, from vaccine research to manufacturing expertise. This project embodies our vision: an Africa that develops, evaluates, and produces its own vaccines — for the populations that need them most," said Dr. Ibrahima Socé FALL, CEO of Institut Pasteur de Dakar.
An International Consortium
The ACT-CHIK consortium comprises seven partner institutions: Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) as project coordinator and vaccine platform developer; University of Rwanda (Kigali, Rwanda) providing scientific project leadership and serving as a clinical trial site; Institut Pasteur de Dakar (Dakar, Senegal) as vaccine technology transfer recipient and clinical trial site; Fiocruz (search) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) handling clinical trial material manufacturing and technology transfer support; Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (search) (Irrua, Nigeria) serving as clinical trial site and Coordinating Principal Investigator; Kenya Medical Research Institute – KEMRI (Nairobi, Kenya) as clinical trial site and lead for data dissemination and communication; and the International Vaccine Institute – IVI (Seoul, South Korea) as clinical trial sponsor overseeing regulatory strategy and capacity building.
"With only one chikungunya (search) vaccine currently available worldwide, it is more important than ever to advance alternative vaccine candidates through rigorous clinical evaluation," said Dr. Anh Wartel, co-Scientific Project Lead of ACT-CHIK at the International Vaccine Institute. "Our goal is not only to evaluate this promising vaccine, but to build lasting capacity so that African institutions can lead vaccine research and development for the diseases that affect their communities most."
Prof. Leon Mutesa, Co-Scientific Project Lead at the University of Rwanda, emphasized the broader significance: "The scientific rigor and contextual innovation will enhance chikungunya (search) preparedness and outbreak control in Africa, embedding the ACT-CHIK as a cornerstone in Africa's broader vaccine manufacturing and access agenda under the Africa CDC 2040 vision."
Notably, there are currently no active phase clinical trials for a chikungunya (search) vaccine taking place in Nigeria, with recent scientific efforts focusing largely on surveillance and seroprevalence studies. Prof. Okogbenin, Coordinating Principal Investigator at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (search), described the project as "not only a critical step toward prevention of a debilitating illness, but also a long-term investment in Africa's scientific leadership," adding that the work is "strengthening clinical research capacity across participating countries — building sustainable infrastructure for future epidemic response."