Moderna and CEPI expand alliance with $50M for new ebola vaccine

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) has expanded its strategic collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to accelerate the development of an experimental vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, an aggressive cause of Ebola virus disease for which there are currently no approved or licensed immunizations.

Under the expanded agreement, CEPI has committed up to $50 million in funding to support early-stage development of Moderna’s investigational messenger-RNA-based vaccine candidate.

The capital allocation will finance preclinical development and Phase 1 clinical testing, while simultaneously bankrolling parallel manufacturing initiatives.

By funding dose production during active clinical evaluation, the partners aim to compress traditional drug development timelines and establish sufficient product stockpiles to pivot directly into large-scale Phase 2/3 clinical trials should the initial safety and immunogenicity readouts prove favorable.

The program leverages the same fast, flexible mRNA platform that supported rapid manufacturing and deployment scaling during the Covid-19 pandemic, building on Moderna's existing internal research into filoviruses and related hemorrhagic fevers.

The joint deployment arrives amid a heightened push by global public health authorities to prepare for emerging outbreaks.

Unlike the more widely studied Zaire ebolavirus strain—which is addressable by existing licensed vaccines—the Bundibugyo strain has historically exhibited a case fatality rate of up to 40% and remains a major gap in global epidemic preparedness frameworks.

Moderna intends to utilize its established technology network to advance the candidate toward initial human evaluation as quickly as possible.