International Vaccine Institute and Bharat Biotech launch Phase II and III trials for chikungunya vaccine

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced on Wednesday that the first participant has received Bharat Biotech’s Chikungunya vaccine candidate (BBV87) in a Phase II and III clinical trial in Costa Rica, marking the start of a multi-country study led by IVI, in partnership with Bharat Biotech and funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, with support from the Ind-CEPI mission of Department of Biotechnology, India.

IVI is advancing clinical development of BBV87 through a Phase II/III randomised and controlled trial to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a two-dose regimen of the chikungunya vaccine in healthy adults at nine clinical trial sites across five countries.

In addition to the trial in Costa Rica, trials are expected to begin in Panama and Colombia by September 2021, and in Thailand and Guatemala soon after, read an official statement Wednesday.