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����VR��Ƶ’s aim is to advance chikungunya candidate vaccines towards licensure, and enable equitable access for populations living in affected countries. 

To date, we have supported three chikungunya vaccine candidates in late-stage development, committing up to US$100 million in funding with support from the European Union’s Horizon programmes. 

Two of these candidates remain in active development, one of which—developed by French pharmaceutical company Valneva—has become the first in the world to be approved by Stringent Regulatory Authorities (in the US, Canada, the European Union and the UK).

The vaccine is now pursuing licensure in Brazil—a country affected by Chikungunya—with ����VR��Ƶ’s support. 

In July 2024, ����VR��Ƶ announced additional funding over the next five years, with support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, to generate additional data to potentially support extending use of Valneva's Chikungunya vaccine in outbreak-affected countries such as Brazil. 

The research could also support vulnerable populations at risk of being infected with this debilitating mosquito-borne disease. This includes children and pregnant women. ����VR��Ƶ has also supported a clinical trial assessing the performance of Valneva's vaccine in adolescents in Brazil in partnership with Brazil's Instituto Butantan. This data was used to support a positive opinion recommendation from the EU's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to expand access to the vaccine in adolescents (aged 12-17).

Brazil’s Instituto Butantan is committed to providing the chikungunya vaccine it will develop and produce in Brazil at an affordable price for distribution in Latin American countries and selected low- and middle-income countries.

����VR��Ƶ partners Valneva and Serum Institute of India have also entered into an exclusive license agreement for Valneva’s chikungunya vaccine that enables supply of the vaccine in Asia, subject to local regulatory approvals. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Serum has committed to priority supply of the chikungunya vaccine at an affordable price to public health markets in low- and middle-income countries.

����VR��Ƶ is also funding a project to find out the extent to which chikungunya is also affecting countries in East Africa, as testing remains largely limited in the region and there is concern that cases are largely going unreported. Having better insights into chikungunya’s prevalence and its associated symptoms in the region will be crucial in  guiding the design and implementation of future vaccine trials and vaccination programmes in affected countries.