Grants for Developing the Next Generation of Vaccines

Deadline: 1-Feb-22

The European Commission (EC) is pleased to launch a call for proposals for Developing the Next Generation of Vaccines to diversify and accelerate the global vaccine research and development pipeline, and to strengthen the current leading role of the EU in vaccine research and development.

Proposals should cover those pathogens, which still lack vaccines of sufficient efficacy, but where earlier efforts have already produced promising vaccine candidates.

Areas

The proposals should address several of the following areas:

Innovation and integration of expertise and capabilities, including alignment of preclinical and clinical models, biomarker studies and new vaccine approaches from discovery to late stage development, from bench-based research to clinical development of promising preventive candidates.
Application of iterative processes (including cross-learning, back-translation steps, integrative analysis of data) to allow exploitation and integration of novel findings between clinical, preclinical and discovery research and development.
Deciphering mechanisms of protection of candidates, new approaches to antigen discovery and immunogen engineering, reverse vaccinology, evaluation of vaccines in novel platforms and technologies, novel adjuvants, innovative vaccine manufacturing approaches, relevant animal models, evaluation of alternative vaccine delivery routes.
Effective, evidence-based decision-making for progression of vaccine candidates in the pipeline based on transparent and objective portfolio management. Regulatory requirements be considered. Sex, gender, age and socio-economic factors should be taken into account.

Funding Information

The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500,000, except for:

public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organizations; and
cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60,000 (lowvalue grant).

Expected Outcomes

Proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to all of the following expected outcomes:

The scientific and clinical communities use the increased knowledge on pathogens and better understanding of the immune system’s role in infectious diseases to develop vaccines with improved efficacy.
Vaccine manufacturers use more innovative and sustainable manufacturing technologies and improved GMP manufacturing know-how for producing the next generation of vaccines.
A diversified portfolio of vaccine candidates ready for testing in clinical trials help policy makers and funders to make informed decisions about support to vaccine development.
New innovative and improved design of preclinical / clinical studies that match the features of the next generation of vaccines is available for clinical community and regulators, and will shorten vaccine development time.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, ie:

the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- low- and middle-income countries.