- Institute to launch BSL3+ laboratories; expand DPRK project
- $11.9 million Gates´ grant poised to accelerate introduction of typhoid vaccines

Members of the IVI Board of Trustees during the annual meeting
in Seoul, Korea on April 3, 2008

The IVI held its 11th annual meeting of the Board of Trustees (BOT) on April 3-4.  The meeting was attended by Chairman Ragnar Norrby and members of the Board, foreign diplomats in Seoul from IVI member and non-member countries, as well as a number of collaborators and donors.

Dr. Park Jong-Koo, Vice Minister of Education, Science and Technology, delivered a congratulatory speech at the opening session of the Board meeting on behalf the Government of Korea. Lauding the IVI’s recent achievements, including the development of three new or improved vaccines, and successful animal testing of sublingual influenza vaccination, Dr. Park said, “The Korean government reaffirms its commitment to extend all possible support to the IVI in the years ahead, as the Institute endeavors to develop new and improved vaccines for the whole world.” 

The 22-member BOT now includes Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Dr. Shigeru Omi, Director of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office. 

The Board officially ratified India as a new signatory to the IVI charter, increasing the number of Signatories to 41. The Board also approved the IVI’s budget of $29.6 million for the year 2009, which has grown from this year’s budget of $27.7 million. This budget growth reflects the IVI’s expanding field research programs to introduce vaccines in developing countries and laboratory science activities to develop new vaccines, assays and adjuvants, as well as the imminent launch of research activities in its new high-tech bio-containment laboratories. Prior to the Board meeting, the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) held its annual meeting on April 1-2. Currently headed by Professor Robert Black of the Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, the SAG reviews the IVI’s programs annually and advises the BOT on scientific issues.

The annual meeting of the IVI BOT is convened at the Hoam
Convention Center, Seoul National University on April 3.

The IVI, which marked its 10th anniversary last October, has made a number of important achievements in recent years. Last year, the Institute demonstrated for the first time that sublingual administration of influenza vaccine is capable of protecting against influenza in animal models (Read a related story). The IVI´s findings from translational research activities on typhoid fever in five Asian countries, which demonstrated the high incidence of the disease in Asian slums, growing rates of antibiotic resistance and the demand for and cost-effectiveness of vaccination using the new generation typhoid Vi vaccine, was critical to the WHO´s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) decision in November 2007 to issue new, updated recommendations for vaccination in children in typhoid-affected countries.  

In addition, its findings on the risk of Japanese encephalitis in children in Bali, Indonesia led to the Indonesian government´s decision to introduce JE vaccines for children on the island.

Citing these and other activities and achievements over the past decade, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), a major IVI donor, said in its recent evaluation of the IVI that “The IVI is unique and fills in many gaps in the public sector’s efforts to develop and deploy new vaccines for the world’s poor.”

The IVI also launched a program in May 2007 to support the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by introducing new vaccines against JE and Haemophilus influenzae type b and by improving the country´s capacity to diagnose these diseases.

In addition, the IVI has begun supporting pilot introduction projects of new typhoid vaccines into school-based programs in Indonesia and Pakistan with an $11.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant, entitled, “Vi-based Vaccines in Asia (VIVA) Initiative,” will also transfer the production technology of a Vi-conjugate vaccine to a producer in India. The vaccine, developed at the IVI laboratories in collaboration with the US National Institutes of Health, should be effective in infacts (unlike the Vi vaccine) and will therefore be a significant breakthrough for the prevention of typhoid fever in young children. (Read a related story)

The IVI will soon launch new high bio-containment (BSL3+/A3+) laboratories at its headquarters. The facility has been built through generous support from the Government of Korea. The IVI plans to work on new vaccines against dangerous respiratory pathogens, such as avian influenza and tuberculosis.

Later this year the Institute will collaborate with WHO on a large demonstration project of a killed oral cholera vaccine in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Also through a recent grant of $300,000 from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the IVI is supporting work to study the disease burden of typhoid fever in Tanzania and Ghana.