The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has unveiled its “world-leading” Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC) to research and develop vaccines against pathogens with pandemic potential.
The centre, which is situated at the UKHSA’s Porton Down site, is a major part of the agency’s three-year strategy and incorporates over 200 leading scientists working on around 100 wide-ranging projects.
VDEC aims to test and evaluate emerging vaccines against new threats and variants to expand its remit to a wide range of other deadly pathogens and diseases that are capable of causing health emergencies.
The centre will specifically target pathogens where a vaccine does not exist, could be improved, or is not regulated in the UK, including avian influenza, mpox or hantavirus, a serious infection that is passed from rodents to humans.
The VDEC team is currently running phase 1 clinical trials for a possible world-first vaccine against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a virus that is spread by an infected tick bite and is fatal in around 30% of cases.
Other targets include common infections like tuberculosis and Clostridium difficile.
Professor Jenny Harries, chief executive of UKHSA, said: “VDEC is a unique facility in the UK, delivering multiple critical early pre- and post-clinical research and evaluation studies in a single research facility.
“This essential work will lead the way over the coming years in our fight against potentially deadly pathogens.”
The agency also outlined that VDEC’s work forms a “crucial” role in the UK’s contribution to the 100 Days Mission, which aims to deploy effective vaccines within 100 days of identifying new pandemic threats.
A recent UKHSA progress report on the mission found that the UK has made significant progress in six key areas, including vaccine research, development and manufacturing.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry responded to the announcement, with Janet Valentine, executive director of innovation and research policy, stating: “The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that through extraordinary interventions and public sacrifice we could slow down the spread of the virus, but not stop infection, and this came with huge economic and personal cost.
“But the most important lesson learnt is that the only way to beat a pandemic is by actively seeking and delivering new vaccines and treatments, the sooner, the better.”