971524PRECLINICAL PoC OF MULTIVALENT VACCINE AGENTS & TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMClosedSmall Business Research InitiativeInnovate UKThis project demonstrates pre-clinical proof of “Active Virosome Vaccines” for prevention of Chikungunya, Zika and Ebola virus infections. It will not only produce new, inherently safe, low cost and easy to produce vaccine agents for prevention of these infections and so suitable for responding quickly to outbreaks of these and other viral diseases, including in the countries where they are endemic. The project uses the "Active Virosome" technology platform, which is a simple, safe and efficient biotechnology for producing candidate vaccines, and can be easily modified to produce vaccines for new viral infection outbreaks, simply by slotting in a suitable "cassette" of genetic information. ActiVirosomes UK Limited, a young UK based biotechnology company, leads the project. The project lasts one year and costs £448,950. It will demonstrate pre-clinical proof of concept of up to 3 candidate vaccines for single viral diseases and two candidate vaccines designed to give protection against more than one viral disease at once: the candidate vaccines will continue through development and safety testing from April 2018 and could start clinical trials in humans as soon as 2020. Active Virosomes have many advantages compared to other vaccines against viral infections, including their safety and low cost of development and manufacture, which makes them particularly suitable for development and use in low and middle income countries which suffer from viral infections carried by mosquitos.