Singapore-based lab to produce clinical trial doses for potential new Ebola vaccine

SINGAPORE – Hilleman Laboratories, a Singapore-based vaccine research and development organisation, is in the race to help find a vaccine for the rare Ebola strain that is spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

It will advance the development and initial production of vaccine doses for clinical trials, targeting the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, for which there is no vaccine. There is currently one licensed vaccine for Ebola, which specifically targets the more common Zaire ebolavirus species.

Hilleman, a joint venture between MSD (the international trade name of American pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co) and British charitable foundation Wellcome Trust, moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2021.

Its latest Ebola efforts are supported by up to US$8.5 million (S$10.9 million) in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership with a mission to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats. 

The work aligns with Singapore’s ongoing efforts to bolster global defences against disease.

In May 2026, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva that Singapore would provide US$12 million to CEPI over a four-year period from 2027 through 2030. In 2022, it had pledged US$15 million to CEPI over five years.

Hilleman Laboratories’ chief executive Raman Rao said the lab recently started work on the new Ebola vaccine candidate and expects that it will be ready for trial in about six months.

If successful, it will be transferred to a large-scale manufacturer, which can make it available at a wider scale.

Crucially, the vaccine will be adapted from the proven recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) technology platform used in Merck’s Zaire Ebola vaccine Ervebo, in order to fast-track the candidate. 

The researchers aim to work on a formulation that can be stored in standard refrigeration for several months, making it easier to transport to remote areas in Africa, said Raman.

“The rVSV platform is unique because it is the only existing licensed commercial Ebola Zaire vaccine product. We’re using an existing platform and if you look at the WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations, they expect that this platform is going to the most promising candidate because of (that),” he said.

“It is also a single-dose vaccine, which makes it a leading candidate for usage in this outbreak and beyond.”

It is one of three vaccine candidates targeting the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Raman added.

One of them – a vaccine that uses the same technology as the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid jab – has already advanced to the clinical trial stage, where it is being tested on people. It was developed in just eight weeks.

On July 24, a 37-year-old man from Britain became the first volunteer in the world to receive the experimental vaccine, in a trial for 50 volunteers.

The other vaccine candidate is by Moderna, which is developing an mRNA vaccine.

The urgency is clear, as more than 1,000 people have been killed in the DRC and Uganda since the outbreak emerged in May, according to WHO, which on May 17 declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Hilleman, which focuses on early development of vaccines and biologics for early-stage clinical trials, has a 30,000 sq ft vaccine manufacturing facility in Depot Road.