Measles remains a top-rank public health disease globally, with ~500,000 or more deaths annually and many more millions of cases. The major impediment to measles eradication is believed to be the lack of an heat- stable (thermostable) vaccine. In this revised application, we proposed to develop a thermostable measles vaccine. Our team has already developed, tested, and implemented a thermostable rinderpest vaccine. Measles is closely related to rinderpest, and so we believe that we should be able to adapt the rinderpest model to measles. Team members include the Serum Institute of India, which manufactures more measles vaccine than anyone in the world (> 400,000,000 doses annually). Consultants include the Measles Laboratory of the CDC, acknowledged to be one of the premier measles genomic labs in the world. In this re-application, we focus our efforts on the development of the measles vaccine itself using accepted excipients. In consultations with WHO and others, we have learned that if our approach is successful, it will be viewed as a reformulation of an existing product since we use accepted excipients. This very likely mean that no human testing will be required, especially if we can demonstrate that our product is genetically identical to the currently approved, and widely distributed, Serum Institute of India product. Improvements in this application include: (1) a more explicit collaboration with the Serum Institute of India, with Dr. Rajeev Dhere, Director of Vaccine Production, an Investigator; (2) a more explicitly hypothesis- driven experimental section; and (3) the addition of more novel approaches to the excipients, and freeze- drying process. We have added substantial experimental detail, additional preliminary data, and identified new approaches to the development of the vaccine. What is the public health relevance of this project? Measles kills half a million people, mostly children every year. Vaccine campaigns have failed to eliminate measles because the vaccine goes bad when it is heated. Our project is to make a new vaccine that will not lose its ability to protect people if there is no refrigeration. ? ? ?
