Lassa Fever Vaccine

Lassa Fever Vaccine 2023

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had not approved a Lassa fever virus (LASV) vaccine as of April 2023. Lassa fever (LF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) caused by the Lassa virus. The natural reservoir for the LASV is the Mastomys natalensis rodent (African rat). Lassa virus is endemic in the West African countries of Benin,  Ghana,  Guinea,  Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

Lassa Fever Vaccine Candidates

As of 2023, four LF vaccine candidates (INO-4500, MV-LASV, rVSV∆G-LASV-GPC, and EBS-LASV) have entered the clinical clinical stage.

IAVI's IAVI C102 LASV vaccine candidate is conducting a Phase I clinical trial supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Batavia BioScienes manufactured IAVI's LASV vaccine candidate in Leiden, The Netherlands.

ChAdOx1-Lassa-GPC is a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine candidate encoding the Josiah strain LASV glycoprotein precursor gene.

Themis Bioscience GmbH is a recombinant, live-attenuated, measles-vectored Lassa fever vaccine candidate (MV-LASV). MV-LASV showed an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, and immunogenicity was unaffected by pre-existing immunity against the vector.

Inovio discontinued the development of product candidates targeting Lassa Fever (INO-4500) on November 17, 2022.

Lassa Fever Vaccine News

August 24, 2023 - Imunon, Inc. entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to evaluate the immunogenicity and efficacy of two IMUNON DNA-based Lassa vaccine candidates.

April 24, 2023 - The U.S. CDC issued a Watch - Level 1 Practice Usual Precautions alert regarding Nigeria's Lassa Fever outbreak. 

April 18, 2023 - The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported Lassa fever-related fatalities had reached 151 in 2023.

March 16, 2023 - The Lancet published a study that concluded MV-LASV showed an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, and immunogenicity seemed to be unaffected by pre-existing immunity against the vector.

March 1, 2023 - The U.S. CDC issued a Watch - Level 1 Practice Usual Precautions notice regarding Nigeria's Lassa Fever outbreak.

January 30, 2023 - The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention activated the national multisectoral Emergency Operations Centre for Lassa Fever at level 2 to coordinate and strengthen ongoing response activities in the country.