Particle.news

Download on the App Store

EMA Backing Accelerates Oxford’s Nipah Vaccine into Phase 1 Trials

The scheme will help streamline regulatory review by boosting early testing efforts for a virus with pandemic potential.

Image

Overview

  • Oxford’s program is the first UK academic vaccine effort to earn EMA Prime backing, securing closer ties with regulators.
  • The candidate jab has entered phase one clinical trials after showing promising safety and immune response in early studies.
  • Nipah virus kills up to 85% of patients and triggers fever, respiratory symptoms and often fatal brain swelling.
  • Transmission spans spillovers from fruit bats or pigs and contaminated food, with documented cases of person-to-person spread.
  • Since its 1999 discovery among Malaysian pig farmers, Nipah has caused nearly annual outbreaks in Bangladesh and periodic cases in India’s Kerala region.