---
title: Scientists Race to Make the First Bundibugyo Ebola Vaccine as Congo's Outbreak Grows
description: A deadly Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Congo has no vaccine. Inside the fast, multi-candidate global race now trying to change that.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-28T14:01:46.768Z
updated: 2026-08-28T14:01:46.776Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/bundibugyo-ebola-vaccine-race-drc-outbreak
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-close-up-of-a-healthcare-worker-in-protective-gear-examining-11119415.jpg
categories: Longevity & Science
content_type: News
region: Global
publication: Rich Health Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

An Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being driven by a strain of the virus that no licensed vaccine can prevent, and the effort to close that gap has just gained another contender. On 27 August the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, known as CEPI, said it would fund Egypt's Minapharm to develop a vaccine against Bundibugyo, the strain behind the current emergency. It is the newest move in a fast, well-funded global push to get the first-ever Bundibugyo jab through trials while the outbreak is still growing.

## CEPI Backs an Egyptian Company to Add Another Candidate

CEPI will provide up to US$16.5 million to Minapharm, working with its Berlin subsidiary ProBioGen, to take a Bundibugyo vaccine candidate through preclinical development and into an early-stage Phase 1 clinical trial, which is expected to take place in Africa. The candidate uses ProBioGen's MVA-CR19 platform, a modified vaccinia Ankara viral vector produced on the company's AGE1 cell line.

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