Icddr,b has been selected as one of the five laboratories across the globe to work together as part of centralised network to reliably assess and compare immunological responses generated by Covid-19 vaccine candidates by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
CEPI on Friday announced partnerships with five clinical sample testing laboratories to create a centralised global network to reliably assess and compare the immunological responses generated by Covid-19 vaccine candidates, said a prèss release.
Located across multiple regions globally, the laboratories initially selected for this vaccine-assessment network are: Nexelis (Canada) and Public Health England (PHE,UK), VisMederiSrl (Italy), Viroclinics-DDL(The Netherlands), icddr,b (formerly International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) and Translational Health Sciences and Technological Institute (THSTI, India).
“Ensuring that immunological responses to Covid-19 vaccines are measured systematically in a manner that allows valid comparisons of vaccines will be essential to global efforts to identify those vaccines of greatest public health value,” icddr,b, Executive Director Professor John D Clemens said.
“We commend CEPI’s efforts to establish a centralised laboratory network, and, as an organisation with decades of experience in evaluating vaccines, we are keen to contribute to the network,” he added.
The network will use the same testing reagents – originating in the labs of Nexelis and PHE – and follow common protocols to measure the immunogenicity of multiple Covid-19 vaccine candidates (both CEPI-funded and non-CEPI funded developers).
This approach will ensure uniformity in assessment and informed identification of the most promising vaccine candidates. CEPI is actively negotiating with additional laboratories to participate in this network.
