Icddr,b Selected to Work in Centralised Network for COVID Vaccine

Icddr, b has been selected as one of five laboratories around the globe to work together as part of a coordinated network to reliably evaluate and compare immunological responses developed by Covid-19 vaccine candidates from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

CEPI today announced a collaboration with five clinical sample testing laboratories to develop a coordinated global network to reliably evaluate and compare immunological responses generated by Covid-19 vaccine candidates, reports BSS.

The laboratories initially selected for this vaccine evaluation network are: Nexelis (Canada) and Public Health England (PHE, UK), VisMederiSrl (Italy), Viroclinics-DDL (Netherlands), icddr, b (formerly the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) and the 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 test reagents – originating from the Nexelis and PHE labs – and will adopt standard protocols to assess the immunogenicity of several Covid-19 vaccine candidates (both CEPI-funded and non-CEPI-funded developers).

This strategy would ensure continuity in the evaluation and informed selection of the most promising vaccine candidates. CEPI is actively negotiating with additional laboratories to participate in the network.