Axel Lehrer University of Hawaii 09 25 2017 Project HD 1080p

University of Hawai'i (UH) vaccine researcher Axel Lehrer, PhD, has received a $6.35 million grant to test whether the Ebola vaccine formula he has developed will protect against two additional filoviruses (viruses in the same family as Ebola).

The Ebola vaccine which UH has created is “heat stable,” which means it does not need refrigeration, and could be easily transported and stored in the hottest climates on Earth, including Africa, where the deadly virus has struck in the past. Expanding the heat-stable vaccine to work against all three of the related viruses (Ebola, Sudan and Marburg viruses) could speed up the protection of health workers and others as soon as an outbreak occurs. This is because the first inoculations could occur even before public health experts know which exact type of hemorrhagic fever has struck.

The U.H. medical school is partnering with two biomedical companies – Honolulu-based Hawai’i Biotech, Inc. and New Jersey-based Soligenex, Inc. – to develop the potentially "trivalent" (works on all three viruses) vaccine.

“Filoviruses are endemic in areas of the world where the power supply can be uncertain, making a thermostable Ebola vaccine particularly valuable,” said Dr. Lehrer, Assistant Professor, Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant to further develop a thermostabilized subunit vaccine for Ebola and look forward to continuing our collaboration with Soligenix, and Hawai'i Biotech, Inc.”

Dr. Lehrer believes that when the new work funded by this grant is completed; the next step would be to obtain funding (perhaps a combination of public funding and corporate funding) to move the vaccine into a clinical trial. With funding, and the necessary drug regulatory approvals, he believes his heat-stable vaccine candidate could be ready to be on the market within five to ten years.