New EDCTP project – ACT-CHIK

By Kelly Prifti, Project Manager 

On May 1, Institut Pasteur launched a major new collaborative project: ACT-CHIK: Accelerating Clinical Trials for CHIKungunya Vaccine in Africa. This four-year research project is funded by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon Europe program. With €15.3 million in EU funding, ACT-CHIK will advance the clinical development of MV-CHIK — a measles-virus-based chikungunya vaccine originally developed at Institut Pasteur — through a large-scale Phase Ib/III clinical trial in four African countries, while preparing for technology transfer to an African vaccine manufacturer. 

At the head of the consortium is Dr. Sotiris Missailidis, Head of Vaccine Innovation Development at Institut Pasteur (DARRI), with the assistance of Kelly Prifti, Project Manager at the Grants Office. 

Professors Leon Mutesa and Anh Wartel at University of Rwanda will ensure the scientific leadership of the project. Rwanda is also one of the four clinical trial sites. The other five members of the consortium are: 

• Institut Pasteur de Dakar (Dakar, Senegal) — Vaccine technology transfer recipient; clinical laboratory assays; clinical trial site 

• Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – Fiocruz (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) — Clinical trial material manufacturing (fill & finish); technology transfer support 

• Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (Irrua, Nigeria) — Clinical trial site; Coordinating Principal Investigator 

• Kenya Medical Research Institute – KEMRI (Nairobi, Kenya) — Clinical trial site; Lead of data dissemination and communication 

• International Vaccine Institute – IVI (Seoul, South Korea) — Clinical trial sponsor, regulatory strategy, and capacity building 

The project has three strategic goals:  

1. Enhance the development of the MV-CHIK vaccine through a large-scale phase Ib/III trial focused on safety and immune response in adults aged 18-55, with age de-escalation studies in adolescents aged 12-17 and children aged 5-11 across non-endemic and endemic countries (Senegal, Rwanda, Kenya, and Nigeria). 

2. Conduct due diligence, gap analysis, and prepare for the technology transfer of MV-CHIK from Institut Pasteur (IP) with the support of Fiocruz in Brazil to an African manufacturing partner, specifically Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD), and clinical assays set up at IPD. 

3. Develop a regulatory pathway for licensure in Africa through a Maturity Level 3 (ML3) National Regulatory Authority (NRA), followed by WHO prequalification. 

Institut Pasteur will contribute to Workpackage 4 (MV-CHIK Vaccine Manufacturing and Clinical Assays), in addition to Workpackage 1 (Project Coordination and Management).  

Contact : kelly.prifti[at]pasteur.fr