Bavarian Nordic A/S has received funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance its early research in filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg virus).

As previously announced, the company is investigating the potential use of its core vaccine technology, MVA-BN as a combined vaccine encoding genes for both the Ebola and Marburg strains. The funding from NIH will support an animal efficacy study performed in non-human primates.

Upon evaluation of the initial data from this study, which are expected next year, Bavarian Nordic will determine the future of this project in the company's pipeline.

Bavarian Nordic's president & CEO, Anders Hedegaard commented, "This research grant is yet another sign of the continued strong relationship between Bavarian Nordic and the US government. We have already successfully advanced the development our Imvamune smallpox vaccine under a fully-funded programme from the US government and with continued support and funding from the US authorities, we are committed to developing innovative vaccines against other potential biological weapons like anthrax, Ebola and Marburg as well. Also, with this initiative we fulfil part of our short term goal to investigate new opportunities to expand the pipeline within our Infectious Disease Division."

Filoviruses belong to a virus family called Filoviridae and can cause severe haemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates.