Related to Ebola Zaire, Marburg virus disease is fatal in up to 88% of cases, which is why it’s an R&D priority for Sabin.
Sabin Vaccine Institute Begins Phase 2 Clinical Trial for Marburg Vaccine in Uganda
Sabin has launched a Phase 2 clinical trial for its vaccine candidate against the lethal Marburg virus. Healthy volunteers received the single-dose vaccine at Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) in Kampala, Uganda.
Marburg FAQ
What is Marburg virus disease?
Marburg virus disease is a hemorrhagic fever
virus that can disrupt the body’s clotting system and lead to internal bleeding. It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease and has a high case fatality rate of 25-88%.
How quickly does a person experience symptoms after infection?
Symptoms develop between two to 21 days after transmission, depending on the route of infection and infectious dose.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms begin abruptly with a high fever, acute headache, and extreme fatigue. As the disease progresses, it becomes severe and can include pancreatic inflammation, shock, liver and immune system failure, and massive hemorrhaging.
How does a person get infected with Marburg?
Marburg is most often transmitted upon extremely close contact with an infected or deceased person, usually via contact with blood, saliva, urine, or other bodily fluids. Contact with contaminated clothing, bedding and medical equipment are other channels of transmission.
Where have cases of Marburg been found?
The first known outbreaks of Marburg occurred in 1967 in Germany and Serbia. Since then, most outbreaks have occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it has spread to other parts of the world in isolated instances.
When was the last outbreak of Marburg?
In September 2024, an outbreak of Marburg was declared in Rwanda, In 2023, Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea both experienced Marburg outbreaks.
Is there a treatment or vaccine for Marburg?
There is no proven treatment for Marburg virus disease, but potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies, and drug therapies are currently in development. There is also currently no approved vaccine for Marburg, but Sabin currently has a candidate in Phase 2 clinical trials.
What is the status of Sabin’s Marburg vaccine candidate?
Since October 2023, Sabin is running a Phase 2 clinical trial for its vaccine candidate against the Marburg virus. Healthy adult volunteers have received the single-dose vaccine candidate at Makerere University Walter Reed Project in Kampala, Uganda, and at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Siaya, Kenya.
The Fatality of Marburg
MARVAC
Sabin is an active member of WHO’s MARVAC, a group of experts from industry, government and academia dedicated to the rapid development of Marburg vaccines. Founded in August 2021 after a Marburg case was identified in Guinea and coordinated by WHO’s R&D Blueprint team, MARVAC members share knowledge, assays, laboratory networks and animal models with the ultimate goal to promote preclinical and clinical development of MARV vaccine candidates. MARVAC is based on the same sharing principles that governed the scientific interactions of the WHO COVID-19 working groups that helped to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
AFIRM
On March 30th, 2022 the WHO R&D Blueprint team convened a group of international experts to set the initial discussions to design and implement a new filovirus research roadmap agenda. This WHO Strategic Agenda for Filovirus Research and Monitoring (AFIRM) intends to establish a set of research priorities for filovirus diseases during the next decade. These priorities will be embedded in three major action areas, namely, (i) research to anticipate future outbreaks, (ii) research to reinforce vaccination via development and evaluation of new filovirus vaccines and (iii) research to cure filovirus diseases by fostering testing of therapeutics and improving patient care. Recommendations from stakeholders including scientists, regulatory experts and developers were sought in order to accomplish short- and medium-term goals.
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