Moderna and CEPI Expand Ebola Collaboration With Up to $50 Million for Bundibugyo mRNA Vaccine Work

Moderna is expanding its partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, to accelerate development of an investigational mRNA vaccine targeting Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a cause of Ebola virus disease for which there are currently no licensed vaccines indicated. The new work is designed to respond to an ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Bundibugyo cases have driven emergency public health declarations by both the World Health Organization and Africa CDC.

Under the expanded agreement, CEPI will commit up to $50 million to support preclinical development and Phase 1 clinical testing of Moderna’s BDBV vaccine candidate. Moderna said the investment will also fund parallel manufacturing activities, so doses can be produced while Phase 1 evaluation is underway and the program is positioned to move into larger Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials quickly if safety and immune response data support progression.

The vaccine program will use Moderna’s mRNA platform, technology that delivers instructions for cells to make proteins that train the immune system. Moderna described the effort as building on its broader research and development in filoviruses, the virus family that includes Ebola and related diseases. In its announcement, Moderna’s CEO Stéphane Bancel said the company believes mRNA can respond rapidly to emerging infectious disease threats, and that the partnership is intended to bring a potential vaccine closer to communities affected by outbreaks.

CEPI’s announcement framed the Moderna funding as part of a broader push to fast-track multiple vaccine approaches against Bundibugyo ebolavirus. CEPI said it will advance a portfolio of three investigational candidates, including a Moderna mRNA vaccine, an rVSV-based candidate being advanced by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and a vaccine based on the University of Oxford’s ChAdOx1 platform, with manufacturing support from the Serum Institute of India.

The CEPI plan also ties funding to trial readiness. CEPI said it expects, contingent on Phase 1 results, to work with partners to support late-stage trials intended to generate data for emergency use authorization or licensure. CEPI emphasized that the three candidates were selected based on extensive safety data and prior preclinical or clinical experience with related filoviruses, and that each approach uses different validated technology platforms intended to maximize the likelihood of success.

For Moderna, the collaboration strengthens the company’s position in epidemic preparedness work beyond its best-known COVID-19 franchise and highlights continued interest in leveraging mRNA for high-consequence pathogens. CEPI said its response reinforces the need to advance vaccine research across viral families and maintain “ready-to-activate” networks that can accelerate countermeasure development during unfolding outbreaks.

Notably, Moderna and CEPI have not disclosed key operational details such as the exact Phase 1 trial design, dosing schedule, primary immune or safety endpoints, expected timelines for interim results, or whether the program includes specific commitments for later-stage funding or geographic procurement. The companies also did not describe the long-term commercialization or supply arrangements in their public statements, and no efficacy readouts have been provided because Phase 1 testing has not yet been reported.