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Profiles

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is an international non-governmental organization based in Oslo, Norway, with additional offices in London, England and Washington, D.C.

It operates as a public-private partnership, soliciting donations from governments, corporations, charities, foundations and individuals to finance research projects to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases (EID).

History

In July 2015, a paper outlining an idea for a new global funding mechanism for vaccine development was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) written by Jeremy Farrar, Stanley Plotkin and Adel Mahmoud.[1] Their concept was further expanded at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where it was discussed as a solution to the problems encountered in developing and distributing a vaccine for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic.[2]

CEPI was officially launched on January 18, 2017 at the WEF, funded by initial donations of $100 million each from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust, with an additional $260 million pledged by a coalition of the governments of Germany, Japan and Norway.[3] The Government of India also served as a co-founder, contributing funding at a later date.[4]

In May 2019, CEPI and the Brighton Collaboration partnered to launch the Safety Platform for Emergency Vaccines (SPEAC).[5]

COVID-19

In January 2022, Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged an additional $150 million each to CEPI.[6]

On March 7-8, 2022, CEPI co-hosted the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2022 with the Government of the United Kingdom in London, England.[7][8] On July 29-30, 2024, CEPI cohosted the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the Brazil Ministry of Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.[9]

Organization

Name Position Notes
Astrid Helgeland Director of Human Resources[10] Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, World Bank[11]
Emma Wheatley Director of Access and Private Partnerships, Deputy General Counsel Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Emergent BioSolutions, University of Oxford
Fernando Pons Chief Operating Officer (COO) ED&F Man, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ExxonMobil, Merck, Rio Tinto
Frederik Kristensen Deputy CEO Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO)
Ingrid Kromann Acting Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Statens Serum Institut
Joseph Simmonds-Issler Chief of Staff COVAX, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Wellcome Trust
Luc Debruyne Strategic Advisor to the CEO GlaxoSmithKline
Mads Høgholen Director of Finance and Operations Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young
Magnus Holme Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance Codex Advokat, Namsfogden, Securitas Norge, Storebrand[12]
Melanie Saville Executive Director of Vaccine Research & Development COVAX, Janssen, Sanofi Pasteur, Wyeth
Monina Vierneza General Counsel and Head of Legal General Electric, Novartis, Pfizer
Nicole Lurie Executive Director of Preparedness and Response American College of Physicians, Association for Health Services Research (AHSR), Institute of Medicine, Society of General Internal Medicine, United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)[13]
Rachel Grant Executive Director of Communications and Advocacy McKinsey & Company, Tony Blair
Richard Hatchett Chief Executive Officer Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), United States Homeland Security Council, United States National Security Council
Samia Saad Executive Director of Resource Mobilisation & Investor Relations Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, BioIndustry Association (BIA), Harvard Medical School, King's College London, World Health Organization
Stephen Mayhew Director of Strategy & Portfolio GlaxoSmithKline, Stallergenes Greer
Anita Zaidi Board member Aga Khan University, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Academy of Medicine, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, WomenLift Health
Cherry Gagandeep Kang Board member Baylor College of Medicine, Christian Medical College Vellore, Health Protection Agency, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Tufts University School of Medicine
Cyrus Ardalan Board member Alvarez & Marsal, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Charities Aid Foundation, Citi, Dubai International Financial Group, Humanitarian Finance Forum, International Capital Markets Association (ICMA), International Financing Facility for Immunization, LXiREIT, OakNorth Bank, RockCreek, World Bank
David Reddy Board member Medicines for Malaria Venture, Roche
Githinji Gitahi Board member Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Amref Health Africa, Commission on African COVID-19 Response, UCH2030, Unilever
L. Rizka Andalycia Board member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesian Food and Drug Administration, International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia
Ichiro Kurane Board member National Institute of Infectious Diseases
Jane Halton Board member Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ Bank), Australian Department of Finance, Australian Department of Health, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Clayton Utz, National Academy of Medicine, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), University of Canberra, University of Sydney, World Health Assembly, World Health Organization
Nísia Trindade Lima Board member Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Brazilian Unified Health System, COVID-19 Global Research & Innovation Forum, Fiocruz, Gender Summit, High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Institute for Social and Political Studies, Lancet COVID-19 Commission, Nairobi Summit, Solidarity Trial, State University of Rio de Janeiro, United Nations, World Health Organization, ZIKAlliance
Samba Sow Board member American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Center for Vaccine Development - Mali (CVD-Mali), Ministry of Public Health and Hygiene, World Health Organization
Rajeev Venkayya Board member Aerium Therapeutics, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Veronika von Messling Board member Duke-NUS Medical School, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), INRS Armand-Frappier Health and Biotechnology Centre, Paul-Ehrlich-Institute
Emmanuel Hanon Non-voting board member, Scientific Advisory Committee Chair GlaxoSmithKline, Viome
Juan Pablo Uribe Non-voting board member Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, World Bank
Margaret Hamburg Non-voting board member American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Soumya Swaminathan Non-voting board member World Health Organization
Alex Cebotari Non-voting member World Bank
Alan Barrett Scientific Advisory Committee member Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences (SCVD)
Alash'le Abimiku Scientific Advisory Committee member Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN)
Azra Ghani Scientific Advisory Committee member Imperial College London
Christian Drosten Scientific Advisory Committee member Institute of Virology-Charité
Dominique Maugeais Scientific Advisory Committee member -
Emmanuel Hanon Scientific Advisory Committee Chair -
Frances Priddy Scientific Advisory Committee member Vaccine Alliance Aoteroa New Zealand, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Gary Nabel Scientific Advisory Committee member Modex Therapeutics
George Gao Scientific Advisory Committee member Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Event 201
Inger Damon Scientific Advisory Committee member Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Josie Golding Scientific Advisory Committee member Wellcome Trust
Ken Ishii Scientific Advisory Committee member Institute of Medical Research at the University of Tokyo
Kent Kester Scientific Advisory Committee member Sanofi Pasteur
Laura Palomares Scientific Advisory Committee member Instituto de Biotecnologa UNAM
Linfa Wang Scientific Advisory Committee member Duke-NUS Medic School
Luciana Borio Scientific Advisory Committee member Council on Foreign Relations
Mahmudur Rahman Scientific Advisory Committee member -
Marc Lipsitch Scientific Advisory Committee member Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Marco Safadi Scientific Advisory Committee member Santa Case de Sao Paulo School of Medical Sciences
Michael King Scientific Advisory Committee Vice-chair -
Michel De Wilde Scientific Advisory Committee member Acambis, BIOASTER, Chinese Vaccinology Course, COVAX, CureVac, GlaxoSmithKline, Human Immunome Project, Infectious Disease Research Institute, MDW Consultant, Sanofi Pasteur, Univercells, VaxDesign, VBI Vaccines
Paula Bryant Scientific Advisory Committee member National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Peter Dull Scientific Advisory Committee member Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Peter Paradiso Scientific Advisory Committee member Paradiso Biologics Consulting
Peter Smith Scientific Advisory Committee member London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Phil Krause Scientific Advisory Committee member Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Rebecca Grais Scientific Advisory Committee member Epicentre
Rino Rappuoli Scientific Advisory Committee member GlaxoSmithKline
Sani Aliyu Scientific Advisory Committee member Nigeria Presidential Task Force on COVID-19
Stanley Plotkin Scientific Advisory Committee member University of Pennsylvania
Stephen Thomas Scientific Advisory Committee member SUNY Upstate Medical University
V. Krishna Mohan Scientific Advisory Committee member Bharat Biotech
Vaseeharan Sathiyamoorthy Scientific Advisory Committee member World Health Organization
Vineeta Bal Scientific Advisory Committee member Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

Joint Coordination Group

The Joint Coordination Group (JCG) is made up of organizations with an interest in the development and deployment of vaccines through CEPI's activities. Its members include:

Funding

To date, CEPI has secured financial support from the governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

As of July 2022, CEPI has received $2.3 billion USD from governments and $282.35 million from private investors, for a total of $2.6 billion. An additional $1.28 billion has been pledged for future donation.

Additional funders include:[14]

Activities

CEPI and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research co-administer the CIHR-CEPI Leadership Award for Excellence in Vaccine Research for Infectious Diseases of Epidemic Potential.[15]

Portfolio

CEPI's vaccine portfolio includes:[16]

Company Description CEPI funding Notes
SK Bioscience Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $50 million USD Nanoparticle vaccine platform (preclinical)
SK Bioscience COVID-19 Up to $210 million USD Recombinant protein (approved for use in South Korea)
Codiak Biosciences Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $2.5 million USD exoVACC platform (preclinical)
Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), California Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, Ingenza Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $30 million USD Mosaic-8 nanoparticle (preclinical)
Bharat Biotech, University of Sydney, ExcellGene Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $12.5 million USD Modified trimeric spike (preclinical)
MigVax Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $4.3 million USD Subunit vaccine tablet (preclinical)
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $5 million USD Protein subunit technology (preclinical)
Affinivax Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $4.5 million USD Multiple Antigen Presenting System (MAPS) technology (preclinical)
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Panacea Biotec Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine Up to $12.5 million USD Nanoparticle vaccine platform (preclinical) -
BioNet Broadly protective coronavirus vaccine Up to $16.9 million USD Nucleic acid (preclinical)
DIOSynVax Broadly protective coronavirus vaccine Up to $42 million USD Nucleic acid (preclinical)
NEC Corporation Broadly protective coronavirus vaccine Up to $4.8 million USD Nucleic acid (preclinical)
Gritstone bio COVID-19 Up to $25.6 million USD Phase 1
Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology COVID-19 Up to $25.1 million USD (funding discontinued) Chimeric protein vaccine (Phase 1)
VBI Vaccines COVID-19 Up to $33 million USD Enveloped virus like particle (eVLP) (Phase 1)
Biological E. Limited COVID-19 Up to $5 million USD Protein antigen (approved in India)
International Vaccine Institute, Bharat Biotech Chikungunya Up to $14.1 million USD Inactivated whole virion vaccine (Phase 2/3)
Auro Vaccines, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) Nipah virus Up to $25 million USD HeV-sG-V vaccine (Phase 1)
Clover Biopharmaceuticals COVID-19 Up to $397.4 million USD S-Trimer vaccine (Phase 2/3)
Pasteur Institute, Themis Bioscience, University of Pittsburgh COVID-19 Up to $4.9 million USD Measles vector (development discontinued)
University of Hong Kong COVID-19 Up to $5.4 million USD Live attenuated vaccine (Phase 1)
Novavax COVID-19 Up to $399 million USD Recombinant protein nanoparticle technology (Phase 3)
University of Oxford, AstraZeneca COVID-19 Up to $384 million USD ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Phase 3)
University of Queensland COVID-19 Up to $4.5 million USD (funding discontinued) Recombinant protein (development discontinued)
University of Queensland MERS coronavirus Up to $10.6 million USD Recombinant protein (preclinical)
Moderna COVID-19 Up to $1 million USD Nucleic acid (Phase 3)
Inovio Pharmaceuticals COVID-19 Up to $22.5 million USD Nucleic acid (Phase 2/3)
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Lassa virus Up to $56 million USD (joint funding with Inovio's MERS vaccine) Nucleic acid (Phase 1)
Inovio Pharmaceuticals MERS coronavirus - Nucleic acid (Phase 2)
CureVac COVID-19 Up to $15.3 million USD Nucleic acid (development discontinued)
CureVac Lassa virus Up to $34 million USD Nucleic acid (preclinical)
Public Health Vaccines Nipah virus Up to $43.6 million USD Recombinant viral vector (Phase 1)
Valneva Chikungunya Up to $23.4 million USD Live attenuated vaccine (Phase 3)
Colorado State University Rift Valley Fever Up to $9.5 million USD Live attenuated vaccine (preclinical)
Emergent BioSolutions, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) Lassa virus Up to $36 million USD Recombinant viral vector (Phase 1)
Wageningen Bioveterinary Research Rift Valley Fever Up to $12.5 million USD Live attenuated vaccine (preclinical)
University of Tokyo Nipah virus Up to $31 million USD Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Lassa virus Up to $64.4 million USD Recombinant viral vector (Phase 1)
Themis Bioscience Lassa virus Up to $37.5 million USD (joint funding with Themis' MERS vaccine) Recombinant viral vector (Phase 1)
Themis Bioscience MERS coronavirus - Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
Themis Bioscience Chikungunya Up to $21 million USD Recombinant viral vector (preparing for Phase 3)
IDT Biologika MERS coronavirus Up to $36 million USD Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
Janssen, University of Oxford Lassa virus Up to $19 million USD for Janssen's Lassa, MERS, Nipah vaccines Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
Janssen, University of Oxford MERS coronavirus - Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
Janssen, University of Oxford Nipah virus - Recombinant viral vector (preclinical)
Imperial College London Marburg virus Up to $8.4 million USD Nucleic acid (preclinical)

  1. Plotkin, S. A., Mahmoud, A. A. F., & Farrar, J. (2015). Establishing a Global Vaccine-Development Fund. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(4), 297–300. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1506820 ↩︎

  2. CEPI officially launched. (2017, January 18). CEPI. http://archive.today/2021.12.17-210026/https://cepi.net/news_cepi/global-partnership-launched-to-prevent-epidemics-with-new-vaccines/ ↩︎

  3. Solberg, E. (2017, January 20). $460 Million Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation Launched. Philanthropy News Digest. https://web.archive.org/web/20220112055033/https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/460-million-coalition-for-epidemic-preparedness-innovation-launched ↩︎

  4. Paton, J. (2017, January 18). Ebola, Zika Push Drugmakers Into Effort to Avert Pandemics. Bloomberg. https://web.archive.org/web/20221020002146/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-18/ebola-zika-push-drugmakers-to-join-effort-to-avert-pandemics ↩︎

  5. Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC). (2019, May 9). Brighton Collaboration. https://web.archive.org/web/20221130041630/https://brightoncollaboration.us/cepi-partners-with-brighton-collaboration-to-support-safety-assessment-of-vaccine-candidates/ ↩︎

  6. Wellcome, Gates pledge $300 million to prevent future epidemics. (2022, January 20). Philanthropy News Digest. https://web.archive.org/web/20220120223745/https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/wellcome-gates-pledge-300-million-to-prevent-future-epidemics ↩︎

  7. Gouglas, D., Christodoulou, M., & Hatchett, R. (2023). The 100 Days Mission—2022 Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2903.221142 ↩︎

  8. The Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2022: On the road to 100-Day vaccines. (2022, March 29). Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. https://web.archive.org/web/20240811221301/https://cepi.net/global-pandemic-preparedness-summit-2022-road-100-day-vaccines ↩︎

  9. Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Retrieved August 10, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240810004556/https://cepi.net/gpps ↩︎

  10. Who we are. CEPI. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221019165747/https://cepi.net/about/whoweare/ ↩︎

  11. Astrid Helgeland. LinkedIn. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from www.linkedin.com/in/astrid-helgeland-a9778239/ ↩︎

  12. Magnus Holme. LinkedIn. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnus-holme-18537110/ ↩︎

  13. Reopen DC Co-Chair | Nicole Lurie. Government of the District of Columbia. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.10.20-052049/https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/reopen-dc-co-chair-nicole-lurie ↩︎

  14. Investment Overview. (2022). CEPI. https://web.archive.org/web/20220829190949/https://cepi.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022_07_06-CEPI-Investment-Overview.pdf ↩︎

  15. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (2021, January 18). Pre-announcement: CIHR-CEPI Leadership Award for Excellence in Vaccine Research for Infectious Diseases of Epidemic Potential - CIHR. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2022.05.22-132807/https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/52284.html ↩︎

  16. Our portfolio. CEPI. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221021070613/https://cepi.net/research_dev/our-portfolio/ ↩︎