It’s a powerful endorsement of CEPI’s mission and a timely reminder that science, collaboration, and solidarity remain our strongest defences against future disease threats.

At a time when epidemic and pandemic threats are rising — fuelled by climate change, global travel, and urbanisation — this award underscores why continued investment in preparedness is essential to global health security.

This partnership model has powered CEPI’s work since our launch in 2017, enabling us to bridge the gap between public and private sectors to turn cutting-edge science into global solutions that deliver global benefits.

By advancing clinical testing and manufacturing of a Nipah vaccine, this new collaboration is helping to strengthen regional defences against the deadly disease.

Nipah virus kills up to 75 percent of people it infects. The majority of Nipah outbreaks have occurred in India and Bangladesh since it was first discovered in Malaysia in 1999, with Bangladesh experiencing outbreaks almost annually since 2001.

SII will manufacture doses for use in a Phase II clinical trial in a Nipah-affected country, & create an investigational reserve of up to 100,000 doses, which could be deployed under emergency use during a future outbreak, helping generate critical data & potentially halt an epidemic in its tracks.

CEPI funding of up to US$7.3 million will support SII for process development and manufacturing of the University of Oxford’s ChAdOx1 NipahB vaccine candidate.

This innovation has the potential to cut vaccine release timelines, reduce manufacturing costs, and, therefore, make high-quality vaccine testing more accessible globally.

Symcel’s approach uses microcalorimetry, a technique that measures tiny amounts of heat generated by microorganisms as they grow, to detect contamination in as little as three days 🦠

Sterility testing—confirming that a vaccine batch is free from microbial contamination—can be one of the most time-consuming stages in vaccine release, often taking up to a month.

Following the roundtable, HERC (ISED) also supported a visit to key Canadian biomanufacturing capabilities in Montreal, including the Eastern Canada Pandemic Preparedness Hub, the Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) Inc., and facilities of the National Research Council Canada.

The meeting confirmed shared goals, common challenges and new opportunities for joint action to enable faster and more equitable responses to future threats.

🔵 Safeguarding supply chains for production and distribution during crises
🔵 How the health security and defence agenda intersect

The roundtable focused on:

🔵 Using AI responsibly to accelerate discovery and development.
🔵 Standing up clinical trials at speed through aligned processes and pre-agreed approaches
🔵 Practical examples of how to support access to these countermeasures

Collaboration and readiness are essential to developing these countermeasures quickly, safely, and accessibly to avert epidemics and pandemics.

📸 CEPI Director of Biosecurity Dr Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D. signing the new agreement with the UKHSA’s Head of International Training Christopher Logue and Deputy Director Yper Hall.