CEPI Awards $16M to Korean Consortium for First-Ever SFTS mRNA Vaccine Development
核心洞察
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (搜索) (CEPI) has awarded up to $16 million to a Korean consortium led by the International Vaccine Institute to develop the world's first mRNA vaccine against Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (搜索) (SFTS (搜索)).
The project utilizes artificial intelligence and structure-based design to create vaccine candidates using ST Pharm (搜索)'s proprietary SmartCap® (搜索) and STLNP® (搜索) platform technologies, marking the first time an SFTS (搜索) vaccine will be tested in humans.
SFTS (搜索), transmitted by ticks in East Asia, causes high fever, thrombocytopenia (搜索), and potential multiple organ failure (搜索) with no current commercial vaccine available.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (搜索) (CEPI) has awarded up to $16 million to a Korean scientific consortium to develop the world's first mRNA vaccine against Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (搜索) (SFTS (搜索)), a potentially deadly tick-borne disease affecting countries across Asia.
The project, led by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI (搜索)), brings together the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (搜索) (KDCA (搜索)), ST Pharm (搜索), and Seoul National University in a groundbreaking effort that could see an SFTS (搜索) vaccine tested in humans for the first time. The research runs through 2030 and represents a significant milestone in addressing an emerging infectious disease threat with no current commercial vaccine.
AI-Driven Vaccine Design Approach
The vaccine development utilizes artificial intelligence and structure-based design to identify antigen candidates and verify their immunogenicity and safety. The Houston Methodist Research Institute will support development using cutting-edge AI techniques to design safer and potentially more immune-boosting vaccine components within hours rather than weeks or months.
ST Pharm (搜索) will be responsible for designing and producing mRNA vaccine raw materials based on its proprietary SmartCap® (搜索) 5' Cap technology and STLNP® (搜索) LNP delivery technology, along with global standard GMP manufacturing capabilities. The safety and manufacturing capabilities of ST Pharm's SmartCap® technology were previously validated in a Phase I clinical study for COVID-19 in the early 2020s.
Addressing a Critical Public Health Threat
SFTS (搜索) frequently occurs in East Asia, including Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and is transmitted by the Haemaphysalis longicornis tick. The disease causes high fever, thrombocytopenia (搜索), and renal failure (搜索), with symptoms emerging mainly after people are bitten by infected ticks or possibly infected domestic animals like cats. In severe cases, predominantly affecting elderly people, illness can progress into multiple-organ failure and death.
Countries like Korea have identified SFTS (搜索) as a significant public health concern and made vaccine development a national priority. The virus has proven challenging to target due to its immune evasion structure and regional characteristics, creating high expectations that an mRNA vaccine approach could overcome these obstacles by accurately replicating antigen structures and inducing strong T-cell immune responses.
Prototype Vaccine for Pandemic Preparedness
The SFTS virus (搜索) has been selected as a representative "prototype" pathogen from the Phenuivirus (搜索) family. Successfully designing a vaccine against SFTS (搜索) would provide a blueprint for developing vaccines against other closely related Phenuiviruses, potentially giving the world a head start in rapidly developing safe and effective vaccines against emerging threats.
"We don't know what the next pandemic will be, but we know that we need to be prepared," explained Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. "By advancing an SFTS (搜索) vaccine, we will both help to address an increasingly menacing viral threat in Asia and generate scientific knowledge that could dramatically accelerate our response to the next Disease X."
The scientific knowledge generated will be added to CEPI's 'Disease X Vaccine Library', supporting the 100 Days Mission—a global goal to develop pandemic-busting vaccines in just 100 days. This approach mirrors the unprecedented speed of COVID-19 vaccine development, which benefited from earlier research into SARS and MERS coronaviruses.
Clinical Development and Equitable Access
The project will test the vaccine's safety and ability to generate suitable immune responses in healthy adults through preclinical and Phase I/II clinical trials in Korea. CEPI and the consortium are committed to enabling equitable access to vaccine outputs, with provisions for affordable pricing in low- and middle-income countries and technology transfer to manufacturers in affected Asian regions.
"IVI (搜索) is proud to lead this consortium of outstanding partners in advancing the world's first clinical development of an SFTS (搜索) vaccine," said Dr. Jerome H. Kim, Director General of IVI. "Our shared commitment is to ensure that, if successful, this vaccine and its future iterations will be accessible to the people and countries that need them, when they need them."
The partnership represents the latest in CEPI's multimillion-dollar R&D investments supporting Korean scientific partners in advancing national and global epidemic and pandemic preparedness, with the Korean Government contributing additional funding to advance CEPI's goals since their collaboration began in 2020.