World's First Vaccine Adjuvant Library Launches to Accelerate Pandemic Preparedness
核心洞察
Scientists have launched the first-ever library of 25 vaccine-enhancing adjuvants (搜索) hosted by the UK's MHRA to boost vaccine performance against epidemic and pandemic threats including mpox (搜索), COVID-19 (搜索), Ebola (搜索), and future Disease X (搜索).
The $2.5 million CEPI-funded project will serve as a matchmaking service, allowing vaccine developers to request up to five adjuvant samples from late 2025 to identify optimal vaccine-adjuvant combinations through preclinical testing.
The library aims to support the 100 Days Mission by rapidly identifying top-performing vaccine-adjuvant pairings during disease outbreaks, potentially containing viral spread before reaching pandemic proportions.
Scientists have launched the world's first library of vaccine-enhancing adjuvants (搜索), marking a significant milestone in global pandemic preparedness efforts. The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will host a repository of 25 adjuvants that can be "taken off the shelf" and used in new vaccines (搜索) being developed against epidemic and pandemic threats, including diseases like mpox (搜索), COVID-19 (搜索), Ebola (搜索), and a novel or as-yet-unidentified Disease X (搜索).
The $2.5 million project, funded and led by the Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), will act as a matchmaking service to help vaccine developers select the best vaccine-adjuvant combination to make their vaccines (搜索) more potent and effective. The adjuvants (搜索) have been shared with the MHRA by leading research institutes and medical companies around the world for onward distribution.
Addressing Critical Supply Chain Challenges
"Immune-boosting adjuvants (搜索) have played a powerful role in transforming our response to deadly diseases over the past century. Yet, the COVID-19 (搜索) pandemic shone a light on the challenges in accessing these vital ingredients, with the rights to adjuvants used in licensed COVID-19 vaccines (搜索) held by only a handful of companies," explains Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. "Constrained supplies can result in an adjuvant getting paired with a vaccine based on what's available at the time rather than what works best."
The library addresses this critical gap by providing vaccine developers with access to a diverse range of well-characterized adjuvants (搜索). Named after the Latin word "adjuvare," meaning "to help" or "aid," adjuvants are substances added in microscopic quantities to the majority of vaccines (搜索) to enhance the immune response, creating stronger and longer-lasting protection against infections than the vaccine alone.
Operational Framework and Timeline
Following a pilot study, from late 2025, CEPI-backed vaccine developers will be able to request up to five adjuvant samples to combine with their vaccine candidates. Select CEPI-supported laboratories will then run preclinical tests on the vaccine-adjuvant pairings to screen which of the five combinations performs most strongly. The developer can use these data to guide whether to progress the successful vaccine-adjuvant pairing into clinical testing.
In the case of an outbreak of a new Disease X (搜索), the adjuvant library could help quickly identify the top-performing vaccine-adjuvant pairings to contain the spread of the virus before it reaches pandemic proportions. This would support the 100 Days Mission, an ambitious goal to develop vaccines (搜索) against newly emerging threats in as little as 100 days.
Global Collaboration and Equitable Access
The adjuvants (搜索) joining the library are provided by 14 organizations across multiple countries, including Allergy Therapeutics (搜索) (UK), Access to Advanced Health Institute (搜索) (US), CHA Vaccine Institute (Korea), Chengdu MaxVax (搜索) (China), Clover Biopharmaceuticals (搜索) (China), Croda (搜索) (UK/Denmark), The Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (China), National Research Council Canada/Glycovax (Canada), Jiangsu Recbio Technology (China), Panacea (India), Parr Biotechnology (China), Shionogi & Co. (搜索) (Japan), Statens Serum Institute (Denmark), and Sumitomo Pharma (Japan).
"This is a major step forward in global efforts to prepare for future outbreaks. By giving vaccine developers fast access to a range of well-characterised adjuvants (搜索), the library will help speed up the development of more effective vaccines (搜索) – particularly at the early stages of an emerging health threat," said Dr Nicola Rose, Interim Executive Director of Science and Research at the MHRA.
By using the library, vaccine developers commit to using adjuvants (搜索) on a non-exclusive basis so that multiple developers can have access to the same adjuvant supplies. In line with CEPI's Equitable Access Policy, vaccine developers are encouraged to publish data on their vaccine and adjuvant pairings in open-access publications for all to benefit from the research.
Strategic Importance for Pandemic Response
Adjuvants (搜索) are of particular importance in an escalating outbreak as they can reduce the dose required to elicit protection. This enables more vaccine doses to be produced at pace and made available to more people, which can help to rapidly contain a fast-spreading threat. They are also a key ingredient to help make vaccines (搜索) more effective in certain age groups, such as babies or older adults, where a stronger immune response is needed.
CEPI selected the adjuvants (搜索) to ensure that the library holds a diverse class of adjuvants based on their stage of development with the potential to be produced at scale for vaccine distribution in low- and middle-income countries. Most of the selected adjuvants have already been tested in preclinical toxicology studies, and many have already been used in human clinical trials.
The funding supports running the adjuvant library for an initial two-year period, with the service first available to CEPI-funded vaccine developers before potentially expanding more widely.