LEAP4WA PUBLICATIONS
Shaun Palmer, Rose Catlos, Gaudensia Mutua, Abdulwasiu Bolaji Tiamiyu, Ben Coates, Sydney Slouka, Catriona Mumuli. From Aspiration to Action: Leveraging Partnerships and Platforms in Vaccine R&D to Advance Equitable Pandemic Preparedness. T20 South Africa. November 2025.
In this brief, the authors outline how investments in vaccine R&D and commercialisation advance integrated regional health technology ecosystems. Using EIDs as a case study, the authors demonstrate how these investments contribute to robust pandemic preparedness and response to address existing and future disease threats exacerbated by the climate crisis. The South African G20 presidency represents a timely opportunity to support regional vaccine priorities, including of institutes like Africa CDC, and global priorities outlined in the Indonesian, Indian, and Brazilian G20 health ministers’ declarations, as well as in the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
Swati Gupta; Donald Grant, Robert Garry, Abdulwasiu Bolagi Tiamiyu, Sandhya Vasan, Stephen Kennedy, Bernice Dahn, James Duworko, Rebecca Grais, Marija Zaric, Patricia Fast; Gaudensia Mutua, Devin Hunt, Kathleen Walker, Shaun Palmer, Bridgette Connell, Jennifer Lehrman; LEAP4WA Consortium. Lassa Fever Vaccine Efficacy and Prevention For West Africa (LEAP4WA). 11th EDCTP Forum. November 2023.
An IAVI-led consortium is advancing a Lassa vaccine candidate based on the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform technology. LEAP4WA will conduct a Phase IIb efficacy trial, evaluating the efficacy of VSV∆G-LASV-GPC for the prevention of laboratory confirmed, symptomatic Lassa fever in a West African LASV-NP seronegative population.
LEAP4WA will also develop state-of-the-art clinical research capacity in West Africa that can be utilized for other Emerging Infectious Diseases in the future.
PUBLICATIONS
OTHER RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS
Malkin E, Zaric M, Kieh M, Baden LR, Fitz-Patrick D, Marini A, et al. (2025). Safety and Immunogenicity of an rVSV Lassa Fever Vaccine Candidate. N Engl J Med. 2025 Nov 6;393(18):1807-1818. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2501073.
Berrian H, Kieh MWS, Dahn BT, Gbemisoye P, Bongolee OKT, Wilson B, et al. (2025). The Role of Informal and Formal Community Structures in Ebola Response in Liberia: Implications for Lassa Fever Research Programs. ASHTM Conference (Poster Presentation). 2025 Nov.
Moore SM, Raphael E, Mendoza Guerrero S, Dean NE, Stoddard ST. (2025). Estimation of Lassa fever incidence rates in West Africa: Development of a modeling framework to inform vaccine trial design. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2025 Jul 29;19(7):e0012751. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012751.
Cooper CL, Morrow G, Yuan M, Postler TS, Neal ML, Cross RW, et a. (2025). Preclinical development of a replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus-based Lassa virus vaccine candidate advanced into human clinical trials. EBioMedicine. 2025 Apr;114:105647. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105647.
Enriquez AS, Diaz Avalos R, Parekh D, Cooper CL, Morrow G, Geisbert TW, et al. (2025). Mapping the antibody response to Lassa virus vaccination of non-human primates. EBioMedicine. 2025 Apr;114:105673. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105673.
Reed NS, Brewer CC, Akintunde G, Blackie FF, Charles L, Fast P, et al. (2025). Report of a SPEAC webinar 22 September 2023: Sensorineural hearing loss, Lassa virus disease and vaccines. Vaccine. 2025 Jan 1;43(Pt 1):126525. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.126525.
Moore KA, Ostrowsky JT, Mehr AJ, Johnson RA, Ulrich AK, Moua NM, et al. (2024). Lassa fever research priorities: towards effective medical countermeasures by the end of the decade. Lancet Infect Dis. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00229-9.
Lawal QO. (2024). Untold Lassa fever story: a physician’s lived experience. Lancet Infection. doi: 10.1016/ S1473-3099(24)00148-8.
Kaboré L, Pecenka C, Hausdorff WP. (2024). Lassa fever vaccine use cases and demand: Perspectives from select West African experts. Vaccine. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.02.044.
Vora NM, Hannah L, Walzer C, Vale MM, Lieberman S, Emerson A, et al. (2023). Interventions to Reduce Risk for Pathogen Spillover and Early Disease Spread to Prevent Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics. Emerg Infect Dis. doi: 10.3201/eid2903.221079
Penfold S, Adegnika AA, Asogun D, Ayodeji O, Azuogo BN, Fischer II WA et al. (2023). A prospective, multi-site, cohort study to estimate incidence of infection and disease due to Lassa fever virus in West African countries (the Enable Lassa research programme) – Study protocol. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283643
Sulis G, Peebles A, Basta NE. (2023). Lassa fever vaccine candidates: A scoping review of vaccine clinical trials. Trop Med Int Health. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13876.
Klitting R, Kafetzopoulou LE, Thiery W, Dudas G, Gryseels S, Kotamarthi A, et al. (2022). Predicting the evolution of the Lassa virus endemic area and population at risk over the next decades. Nat Commun 13, 5596. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33112-3
Garry R. (2022). Lassa fever — the road ahead. Nat Rev Microbiol 21, 87–96. doi: 10.1038/s41579-022-00789-8.
Cross RW, Woolsey C, Prasad AN, Borisevich V, Agans KN, Deer DJ, et al. (2022). A recombinant VSV-vectored vaccine rapidly protects nonhuman primates against heterologous lethal Lassa fever. Cell Rep. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111094.
Salami K, Gsell PS, Olayinka A, Maiga D, Formenty P, Smith PG, Moorthy V. Meeting report: WHO consultation on accelerating Lassa fever vaccine development in endemic countries, Dakar, 10-11 September 2019. Vaccine. doi: 0.1016/j.vaccine.2020.01.017.
Stein DR, Warner BM, Soule G, Tierney K, Frost KL, Booth S, Safronetz D. (2019). A recombinant vesicular stomatitis-based Lassa fever vaccine elicits rapid and long-term protection from lethal Lassa virus infection in guinea pigs. NPJ Vaccines. doi: 10.1038/s41541-019-0104-x.
Hastie KM, Zandonatti MA, Kleinfelter LM, Heinrich ML, Rowland M, Chandran K, et al. (2017). Structural basis for antibody-mediated neutralization of Lassa Virus. Science 356,923-928(2017). doi.org/10.1126/science.aam7260.
Safronetz D, Mire C, Rosenke K, Feldmann F, Haddock E, Geisbert T, Feldmann H. (2015). A Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Based Lassa Fever Vaccine Protects Guinea Pigs and Macaques against Challenge with Geographically and Genetically Distinct Lassa Viruses. PLoS Negl Trop Dis.17;9(4):e0003736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003736. PMID: 25884628; PMCID: PMC4401668.
Swati Gupta; Patricia Fast; Jennifer Lehrman; Matt Price; LEAP4WA Consortium. Lassa Fever Vaccine Efficacy and Prevention For West Africa (LEAP4WA). 10th EDCTP Forum. October 2021.
An IAVI-led consortium is advancing a Lassa vaccine candidate based on the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform technology. The vaccine candidate demonstrated 100% efficacy against LASV in a nonhuman primate challenge study. Furthermore, it uses the same technology as Merck’s ERVEBO® vaccine, which has been shown to be safe and efficacious in preventing Ebola virus disease and is licensed in multiple countries.