CEPI Funds West Africa Clinical Trial Network
CEPI has committed up to US$8.2 million more to support Africa CDC's hub-and-spoke clinical trial model in West Africa.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Diseases — General
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The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced up to US$8.2 million in additional funding for the International Vaccine Institute and MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, its technical partners in West Africa. The funding supports implementation of Africa CDC's hub-and-spoke clinical trial model, bringing CEPI's total commitment to the Research Preparedness Program to US$28.8 million.
Why it matters
The model is designed to enable faster, more coordinated generation of clinical evidence during epidemics and pandemics. Many infectious disease outbreaks in Africa currently have no approved vaccines to defend against them.
CEPI's latest US$8.2 million brings its total commitment to the Research Preparedness Program to US$28.8 million, funding a West Africa component whose allocation across partners has not been detailed. Initial implementation is limited to West Africa, with expansion to other African regions planned but not yet scheduled.
The players
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
CEPI is a global partnership that finances vaccine development to prevent and end epidemics, and it leads the Research Preparedness Program announced in Accra.
Africa CDC
Africa CDC is the public health agency of the African Union, which developed the hub-and-spoke clinical trial model being implemented in West Africa.
International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute is a non-profit intergovernmental organization based in Seoul that works on vaccine research and development for infectious diseases, and it is a technical coordinating partner for CEPI's West Africa component.
MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM (MRCG)
MRCG is a research unit of the UK Medical Research Council and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, based in The Gambia, and serves as a technical coordinating partner for CEPI's West Africa component.
The details
The hub-and-spoke network connects experienced clinical trial research hubs to a wider set of spoke sites nearer outbreak-prone areas. The Program supports establishing and maintaining warm clinical trial sites with infrastructure, trained staff and systems, and its formal launch took place at an event in Accra convened by Africa CDC, the African Medicines Agency, WHO AFRO and CEPI.
Timeline
22 October 2026: Funding announced at the Accra launch event
26 October 2026: CEPI press release issued from Oslo
Preparedness Pipeline
The funding extends Africa CDC's hub-and-spoke clinical trial network from its planned design into its initial West Africa rollout, with expansion to every region of the continent set as the next phase. It addresses a gap in which many African infectious disease outbreaks still lack approved vaccines, making readiness of trial infrastructure the operative bottleneck.
Clinical trials run through this network could give patients in outbreak-prone parts of Africa faster access to studied treatments and vaccines during emergencies. The extraction does not say when those trials would begin or which diseases they would prioritize.
The takeaway
Stronger trial infrastructure set up before an outbreak could shorten the time it takes to generate evidence on whether a candidate vaccine or treatment works. Readers tracking outbreak response in Africa should watch whether the network expands beyond West Africa on the announced schedule.
What happens next
Africa CDC will extend the hub-and-spoke network beyond West Africa to every region of the continent, though no dates for that expansion were given.
Further reading
Explore more in Diseases — General for background on how outbreak research is organized.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Africa CDC.
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