Main news from Brussels this week
date: 15/11/2019
Vaccine against Ebola: Commission grants first ever market authorisation
The European Commission granted marketing authorisation to Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. for a vaccine against Ebola, called Ervebo. It is already used as part of a specific protocol to protect those at risk of infection, such as healthcare workers or people who have been exposed to infected persons. The development of the vaccine, which started during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, has been supported by two projects from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded by the EU's research and innovation programme Horizon 2020:
- VSV-EBOVAC (March 2015-Feb. 2019), led by Academisch Ziekenhuis Leiden (NL) with €3.9 million EU contribution,
- VSV-EBOPLUS (April 2016-March 2021), led by Merck Sharp & Dohme, with €8.5 million EU contribution.
EU allocates €55 million to Sudan
The European Commission is mobilising €55 million to help vulnerable people caught up in the humanitarian crises in Sudan. The announcement comes as at least eight million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, with over six million having insufficient food to meet their needs and one in six children suffering from acute undernourishment. Funding from this aid package will support food and nutrition assistance for vulnerable households, for children under five and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers; emergency health care, including tackling the current cholera outbreak affecting some parts of Sudan; support to Sudanese refugees who are forcibly displaced within their country and education for children living in areas hit by the crises. Since 2011, the EU has allocated over €518 million in life-saving assistance to people in need in Sudan.
All this week's key European Commission announcements can be found here