World Tuberculosis Day - 24 March 2015

Vaccines are medicines that boost the immune system’s natural ability to resist specific diseases. They are also one of the most cost-effective ways to protect people from disease.

But a lack of a process to foster collaboration among researchers has slowed – and sometime blocked – the development of new ones, says vaccinologist Odile Leroy, the executive director of the European Vaccine Initiative and coordinator of the EU-funded TRANSVAC project.

TRANSVAC aimed to bridge that gap and speed up vaccine development by linking up vaccine researchers from some of Europe’s leading research labs, among them universities, private institutions and commercial entities.

The project partners were committed to providing vaccine ingredients, test materials and expertise for free with the aim of accelerating vaccine development in Europe.

By the time TRANSVAC ended in September 2013, partnerships were in place for 29 vaccine and vaccine-related studies on diseases such as Lyme disease, malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, influenza, mumps, whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis), pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumonia), HIV, plus two types of cancer.

The cancers are melanoma and ovarian carcinoma – the studies on these aimed to develop vaccines that stimulate the immune system to destroy the cancerous cells. Three of the studies (tuberculosis, dengue, pneumonia) involved pairing small research labs with their larger counterparts, one of TRANSVAC’s objectives.

In collaboration with other vaccinologists, the partners also developed a roadmap proposing ways to improve vaccine development in Europe and help the industry to become more competitive. It also made recommendations on how public-private collaborations could be fostered in the future to reinforce Europe’s leadership in vaccine production.

“We built on something that already existed,” says Leroy. “We just structured it to make it work better so that vaccine candidates in the pipeline could be developed faster.”

A model for vaccine development

The TRANSVAC team granted free access to 29 projects, which were selected through a two-step peer review process, first on scientific excellence, and then on the feasibility and impact of the vaccines under development.

TRANSVAC’s partners provided these projects with specific vaccine components (adjuvants), test materials (such as animal models and reagents) and expertise. For example, selected projects were able to send samples of experimental vaccines that the partners analysed for free, using state-of-the art scientific methods.

TRANSVAC’s partners also provided critical data to help projects decide on vaccine formulation, the route of administration, the dosage and the number of shots needed. 

The achievements include the development of novel vaccines, as well as new vaccine candidates, says Leroy. The research teams behind two potential tuberculosis vaccines have applied for permission to conduct clinical trials.

Partners also organised two courses in vaccine development, each attended by 15 participants. They held six workshops on subjects such as statistical analyses, animal models and scientific analysis using microarrays and sequencing platforms.

Next steps

The former partners now plan to apply for EU research funding to establish a network of all stakeholders to promote even more collaboration – called the European Vaccine Research Development Infrastructure (EVRI). They are also applying for funding for a second project, similar to TRANSVAC.

Europe’s vaccine industry employs around 30 000 people in Europe, according to the European Commission.

“TRANSVAC’s partners continue to receive proposals from people who want to access the service,” says Leroy. “There is a real demand. We are going for a second version. Our objective is to eventually provide sustainable access and not be dependent on public funding.”

For now, the partners continue to offer their services for a fee via TRANSVAC’s website.