IVI and the United Kingdom
British Leadership at IVI
Professor Gordon Dougan, Wellcome Sanger Institute (2003-2008; 2020-present)
Dr. Melanie Saville, CEPI (2020-2023)
Mr. Malcolm Sweeney (2020-2023)
Dr. Geoffrey Schild, NIBSC (1995-2003)
Professor Peter Smith, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2007-2014)
Professor Gordon Dougan, Wellcome Sanger Institute (2007-2011)
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Advocacy
Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, and Lord Jim O’Neill, former Chair of the Review on AMR, have supported IVI’s AMR programs by delivering keynote addresses at IVI-led international forums.
World Health Organization
Dr. Jeremy M. Metters, HM Inspector of Anatomy, addressed the 50th World Health Assembly stating, “the United Kingdom strongly endorsed the draft resolution” for the WHO to deposit an instrument of approval to the IVI Establishment Agreement.
Scholars in Residence
Professor Peter Smith, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2013)
Professor Nicholas Grassly, Imperial College London (2011)
Professor Simon M. Cutting, Royal Holloway, University of London (2010)
Professor Robert Hyderman, University College London (2009)
Ongoing Collaboration
Hong Kong Jockey Club Global Health Institute
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Global Health Institute (HKJCGHI) is a collaboration between the University of Hong Kong, IVI, and the University of Cambridge, supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The institute strengthens the global pandemic preparedness system to rapidly identify new pathogens with pandemic potential and accelerate the development of vaccines.
National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls (NIBSC)
COVID-19: IVI tested international standard candidates and transferred the results to the UK’s NIBSC, ultimately supporting the establishment of the WHO international standard for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody.
Cholera: With a $1.4 million USD grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IVI and NIBSC are working on the development and manufacture of WHO International Standards of cholera assays. The new International Standards will ensure proper regulation at national levels and maintain comparable efficacy of oral cholera vaccines worldwide.
AMR Programs: UK AID – Fleming Fund – Oxford University BDI & OUCRU
The Fleming Fund awarded IVI three Regional Grants (1.3, 1.4, 2.5) for AMR programs in Asia and Africa. IVI is the subgrantee on a grant (2.2) with the Technical University of Denmark. Oxford University’s Big Data Institute is a lead partner in the IVI-led CAPTURA and RADAAR consortiums.
IVI’s Capturing Data on Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns and Trends in Use in Regions of Asia (CAPTURA) consortium received £5.4 million from grants 1.3 & 1.4 to work with 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia to collect and analyze retrospective data on AMR and AMU in the human health sector in these countries. CAPTURA also works to increase the volume of data available to improve spatiotemporal mapping of AMR and antimicrobial use (AMU). CAPTURA II aims to further improve the quality, quantity, analysis, and dissemination of AMR data.
IVI’s Regional AMR Data Analysis for Advocacy, Response and Policy (RADAAR) consortium received £2.7 million from grant 2.2 to strengthen country capacity and create a demand for One Health AMR/AMU/AMC data sharing & analysis to inform and improve regional policymaking.
The Strengthening External Quality Assurance for AMR in Asia (EQASIA) consortium received £4.2 million to map the coverage, availability, and uptake of external quality assurance (EQA) programs in Asia. EQASIA also strengthens EQA services to national reference laboratories and One Health sectors in Asia.
IVI also works on AMR with Oxford University’s Clinical Research Units (OUCRU) in Cambodia and Vietnam as part of the TuNDRA & TuNDRA Plus projects (Real-time Tracking of Neglected Bacterial Diseases and Resistance Pattern in Asia), which are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health.
Additional Funding to IVI by Fleming Fund
Fleming Fund also sponsors two more IVI projects: Technical Assistance for Clinical Engagement – Asia (TACE Asia) and The Technical Assistance for Data and Evidence Use (TADEU). In TACE project IVI also collaborates with two more UK institutions: University of Oxford (ACORN) and St. George’s University London (ADILA).
Cambridge University, Department of Medicine (UCAM)
Typhoid Vaccination in Africa: IVI is a lead partner in the THECA consortium with Cambridge University, which received a €13 million grant from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) in 2019 to assess the effectiveness of typhoid conjugate vaccine introduction in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. IVI has contributed $3.2 million USD to the THECA program through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Florian Marks, IVI Deputy Director General of Epidemiology, Public Health, and Impact (EPIC) holds an academic appointment within the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, and has been instrumental in setting up joint programs leveraging the unique strengths of both the University of Cambridge and IVI.
Wellcome Trust Grants
Trivalent Vi-iNTS conjugate vaccine: IVI is developing a vaccine against invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS), an infectious disease responsible for over 680,000 annual deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Wellcome Trust provided a £2.73 million grant to support vaccine development and a £2.28 million grant to develop a Full Value of Vaccine Assessment (FVVA) for iNTS vaccines.
In 2024, WHO’s Product Development for Vaccine Advisory Committee endorsed the iNTS vaccine preferred product characteristics guide and R&D roadmap. Assessment collaborators in Ghana held a policy survey and workshop, offering stakeholder perspectives and priorities, while IVI, WHO, and Wellcome held consultations.
Group A Strep (GAS): Launched in 2019 by IVI and Australia’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Strep A Global Vaccine Consortium (SAVAC) brings together a broad consortium of global health partners to accelerate the development of GAS vaccines and implement the WHO’s 2018 GAS Vaccine Development Technology Roadmap. In 2024, IVI launched a project to develop a proof-of-concept for a universal group A Streptococcus (GAS) conjugate vaccine. This project, running through 2027, seeks to identify the optimal conjugate vaccine by taking simultaneously exploring multiple approaches. SAVAC is made possible by a £1.76 million Wellcome Trust grant to IVI.
Cholera Conjugate Vaccine: IVI is developing a new cholera vaccine to improve protection in children younger than five. In 2020, Wellcome Trust provided a £456,865 grant to conduct the GLP toxicology study on the vaccine.
Bivalent Typhi-Paratyphi A vaccine: IVI is conducting preclinical development of a vaccine against a pair of bacterial infections collectively responsible for 15.5 million deaths annually. Wellcome Trust provided a £439,472 grant to support preclinical development.
Shigella Vaccine: IVI is developing a Shigella Truncated Mutant (STM) vaccine platform, which could be used as an effective vaccine platform against a number of enteric vaccines. The project is funded with a PATH/Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award of $175,748.
Global burden of human papillomavirus
IVI and its partners are conducting GLOBE HPV, a global disease burden study to generate robust primary data on the prevalence and impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) among girls and women in low- and middle-income countries across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) is one of the collaborators.
Advancing hepatitis E control – in collaboration with Be Part Research, UK
IVI is generating critical epidemiological and clinical data to support the expanded use of Hecolin®, a hepatitis E virus vaccine approved for use in China and Pakistan. 860 participants enrolled in an ongoing trial to assess expanded use of the hepatitis E virus vaccine. Be Part Research in UK is one of IVI’s collaborators in this project.
Vaccine Against Schistosomiasis for Africa
The Vaccine Against Schistosomiasis for Africa (VASA) project is developing a vaccine for schistosomiasis – a disease caused by parasitic worms – while addressing critical research gaps in the disease’s epidemiology, economic impact, and immunology in Africa. University of Cambridge in UK is one of the collaborators.
Global Chikungunya Vaccine Clinical Development Program
The Global Chikungunya Clinical Development Program (GCCDP) focuses on advancing Bharat’s chikungunya vaccine candidate, BBV87, toward achieving WHO prequalification and emergency use listing. CEPI is providing funding for this project, with National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in UK – among the collaborators.
Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine Introduction in Africa
Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine Introduction in Africa (THECA), launched in 2019 in parallel with the Severe Typhoid in Africa program, tackles key research questions surrounding the rollout of typhoid conjugate vaccines in Africa. The project includes clinical trials, mass vaccination campaigns, and advocacy efforts across four countries. University of Cambridge in UK is among the collaborators.
Surveillance for TCV Impact Assessment in Africa
In 2015, IVI launched a multi-country typhoid burden study in six sub-Saharan African countries and it has now evolved into the Surveillance for TCV Impact Assessment in Africa (STIA) project. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease and University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine are IVI’s collaborators in this project.
Typhoid Silent Contamination Surveillance
The Typhoid Silent Contamination Surveillance (Ty-SICS) project in Fiji assesses the environmental prevalence of Salmonella Typhi before and after the Ty-FIVE vaccination campaign in parallel to symptomatic typhoid surveillance. IVI collaborates with UK’s Imperial College in this project.
Previous Collaboration
WHA side event on antimicrobial resistance in partnership with UK
In May 2024 IVI organized a WHA side event in partnership with Bhutan, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Korea, Sweden, and UK to explore an alignment between national vaccine strategies and efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries. Prof. Dame Sally Davies, Special Envoy for AMR from United Kingdom, offered her high-level remarks at the event.
DFID & Wellcome Trust
2015-2020: Cholera control in Malawi. In 2015, IVI conducted a mass cholera vaccination campaign in Malawi in response to a cholera outbreak, which led to 130,000 people receiving the oral cholera vaccine developed by IVI. Subsequently, IVI established Cholera Surveillance in Malawi (CSIMA) to establish a cholera surveillance platform in Malawi to measure vaccine effectiveness. CSIMA facilitated the establishment of Malawi’s national cholera control plan and additional vaccination campaigns. $400,000 in bridging funds from DFID & Wellcome Trust enabled CSIMA to operate until mid-2020.
NIBSC
2019: With funding from CEPI, IVI transferred MERS-CoV sera samples from Korea to NIBSC, which used the sera samples to establish a MERS-CoV international reference standard for both CEPI and WHO.
2018: IVI and NIBSC, with the support of the Gates Foundation, collaborated on International Standards for an assay to determine the potency of oral inactivated cholera vaccines, which is important because this vaccine constitutes the WHO emergency stockpile.
2004: IVI’s Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) worked with the WHO and NIBSC to develop a standardized method for reporting dengue plaque reduction neutralizing tests (PRNT). These standardized dengue PRNT reagents are now available through the WHO and the NIBSC.
Wellcome Sanger Institute
2010-2014: IVI’s Typhoid Surveillance in Africa Program (TSAP) established typhoid surveillance sites in 10 countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) and established for the first time that typhoid fever placed a significant burden on Africa. TSAP data convinced SAGE, Gavi, and WHO to add typhoid conjugate vaccines into the Gavi vaccine portfolio. The Wellcome Sanger Institute played a key role in generating genome sequences of Salmonella isolates and assessing the molecular basis of antimicrobial resistance phenotypes.
2008-2011: IVI’s Molecular Microbiology and Epidemiology Program and the Wellcome Sanger Institute conducted a global epidemiological analysis of Shigella, starting with whole-genome sequencing of S. sonnei. This program established the genealogical tree of S. sonnei using isolates from IVI’s shigella surveillance sites in Asia.
Oxford University Clinical Research Units (OUCRU)
2009-2011: IVI, the Nepal Ministry of Health, and the local OUCRU conducted a typhoid vaccine introduction project in Kathmandu, which provided 140,00 students with Vi-PS typhoid vaccine.
BBC World News
2007: IVI’s Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI) contributed to a dengue documentary as part of the BBC’s Kill or Cure series.
Health Protection Agency (HPA)
2005: As part of a study in Vietnam to identify children with suspected bacterial meningitis, pneumonia, and sepsis, IVI and the HPA’s Hib Reference Laboratory trained and certified all hospital microbiology staff at the Khan Hao General Hospital in the identification of S. pneumoniae and other invasive pathogens.
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
1999: With cooperation and support from LSTHM, IVI was able to develop and administer training courses to improve vaccine clinical trial standards in Asia. These courses laid the foundation for the annual IVI Vaccinology Course