IVI and Thailand

 

Member State Relations

On October 28, 1996, the Ambassador of Thailand to the United Nations, H.E Asda Jayanama, signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.

On 8 March 2022, the Cabinet of Thailand ratified the IVI Establishment Agreement and approved an annual core funding contribution of $100,000 USD (about ฿3.25 million Thai Baht) from 2023. Official Announcement (in Thai)

IVI Support for Thailand

In June 2009, Professor Dr. Her Royal Highness, Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol, President of the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Thailand, made an official visit to IVI headquarters.

Since 2002-2019, Over 70 Thai scientists and physicians have received training in IVI’s annual Vaccinology Course.

In 2000, IVI held a 5-day GMP short course in Bangkok for 40 participants from Thai vaccine manufacturers and the National Regulatory Authority/Control Laboratory.

Ongoing Collaboration

Partnership with Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute (NVI)

On 20 January 2022, IVI and NVI signed a Definitive Agreement to strengthen the collaborative partnership between the two organizations. The agreement was signed by Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of the IVI, and Dr. Nakorn Premsri, Director of NVI, witnessed by Dr. Manki Song, Deputy Director General of Science of IVI, and Dr. Sunate Cheunkitmongkol, Deputy Director of NVI.

This agreement enables IVI and NVI to explore opportunities for further collaboration and knowledge sharing in the areas of capacity building, including staff exchanges, fellowship programs, infectious disease research, epidemiology, and vaccine research and development.

COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA)
Beginning in 2021, IVI is partnering with SK bioscience of South Korea to conduct Phase III clinical trials of SK bioscience’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Ukraine, and Korea in an effort to accelerate the development of much-needed “Wave 2” vaccines.

Funding for this Phase III study has been provided by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Additionally, IVI, SK, and the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) signed an agreement to jointly conduct antibody testing for the global Phase III trials.

Based on the promising interim data from Phase I/II clinical trials, SK bioscience has formed the COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA) and is working with IVI on global Phase 3 trials of the vaccine. The aim of this consortium is to make the GBP510 vaccine available worldwide with WHO prequalification (PQ) / WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). IVI and SK bioscience will jointly conduct the clinical trials, while SK proceeds with preparations to achieve WHO PQ and emergency use authorization (EUA) in individual countries.

Covid-19 Vaccine Development with BioNet
IVI is a member of a global consortium led by the French-Thai vaccine manufacturer BioNet, alongside Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University and the Universities of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and California-Davis in the United States, to conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials on a new COVID-19 vaccine. The program is made possible by a $200 million USD grant from CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative.

Chikungunya Vaccine Development

IVI’s Global Chikungunya vaccine Clinical Development Program (GCCDP) is advancing the clinical development of Bharat Biotech International Ltd’s (BBIL) Chikungunya vaccine candidate (BBV87) through a Phase II/III randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a 2-dose regimen of BBV87 Chikungunya vaccine in healthy adults at 9 clinical trial sites across 5 countries (Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, and Thailand) with endemic Chikungunya. GCCDP is in partnership with BBIL and funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) with support from the Ind-CEPI mission of the Department of Biotechnology, India.

GCCDP seeks to develop and manufacture an affordable Chikungunya vaccine with the aim of achieving WHO prequalification to enable its distribution in low- and middle-income countries, consistent with CEPI’s core commitment to equitable access, affordability and sustainability. As needed, CEPI or BBIL may propose a third-party for manufacturing of a stockpile of investigational product to be used for further clinical trials in outbreak conditions to advance vaccine development, or pursuant to an emergency use authorization in emergency situations based on national or international guidance (such as by the WHO).

HPV Vaccine Study

Starting in 2018, this new study, sponsored by IVI and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, investigates the effectiveness of a single dose (SD) vs. two doses of HPV vaccine (Cervarix) in female school students. The overall goal from this SD effectiveness study is to generate evidence that might support WHO and SAGE recommendations for the deployment of SD-HPV vaccination regimens at a larger scale in both Thailand and other countries, thereby ensuring HPV vaccination accessibility to a larger female population. This study will be conducted over the next 5 years in collaboration with the Thai Ministry of Public Health, the Department of Disease Control, the Chulalongkorn Center of Excellence in Virology, and the US CDC.

Previous Collaboration

 

Pneumonia Vaccine Development

In 2017 and 2018, IVI carried out a Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) country investment case study in Thailand. Funded by South Korea’s SK Chemicals, this study conducted cost-effectiveness analysis of introducing PCV vaccines into Thailand. A policy makers meeting was conducted in Bangkok in April 2018 to present preliminary results.
From 2007 to 2011, IVI and Thailand jointly participated in PneumoNet, a multi-country, hospital-based pneumococcal disease burden study in Asia. More than 20,000 children were enrolled in 4 countries by the end of 2011. Analysis of the data from this study identified consistently high rates of pneumonia hospitalization and helped make the case for the introduction of a pneumonia vaccine.

Cholera Vaccine: Development and Usage

From 2009 to 2011, Thailand played a key role in the development of IVI’s Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) by hosting a Phase II clinical trial in Bangkok.
In 2013, the Thailand Ministry of Public Health sponsored a two-dose OCV campaign in the Maela refugee camp. Over 43,000 refugees received the IVI-developed OCV.

Dengue Vaccine: Research and Clinical Trials

From 2006 to 2014, IVI’s Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) and Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI) conducted wide-ranging studies on the prevalence and impact of dengue fever in Thailand. These studies revealed that dengue incidence had been severely underestimated in Thailand, and that both patients and policymakers considered dengue an important national priority. With the results of these studies, IVI developed vaccine impact modeling, a strategic demand forecast, a market assessment, and an investment case to support the introduction of dengue vaccine in Thailand.

From 2008 to 2010, PDVI supported the Faculty of Tropical Medicine of Mahidol University in its efforts to carry out the first efficacy trial of a dengue vaccine in Thailand. The Phase 2b clinical trial of the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine was carried out in Ratchaburi Province and 4,000 children aged 4-12 participated in the trial. PDVI provided technical support and advice to the trial sponsor and investigators, conducted socio-behavior studies, created an advisory committee, and conducted dengue surveillance among children in Ratchaburi not involved in the trial.

Shigella Study

From 2002 to 2005, IVI carried out its first global program, the Diseases of the Most Impoverished (DOMI) disease burden study. As part of DOMI, IVI investigated the disease burden of Shigella in the Kaeng Khoi district of Saraburi Province. Data from research revealed that shigella imposes a heavy economic burden on both public-sector institutions and private households and identified a uniformly high demand for a vaccine against dysentery for children across study sites. The results of the Shigella study in Thailand have major implications for the design of new vaccines and will influence the development of IVI’s shigella vaccine.

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) Study

From 2000 to 2004, IVI conducted a multi-country study in Asia to better define the JE burden in countries where JE vaccines are not used or are only used to a limited extent. In collaboration with the Thai CDC and Ministry of Public Health, IVI carried out studies of the economic cost of illness and analyses on the cost effectiveness of vaccination. In addition, IVI conducted surveys of Thai policymakers about their perceptions of the importance of JE, the need for introducing JE immunization, and the obstacles to implementing JE immunization in Thai public health programs. This project was funded by a $2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Children’s Vaccine Program.