Advancing meningitis research
Partners like these health workers at the MenAfriVac vaccine launch helped MVP develop banks of data and sera that are now available to researchers.
MVP Access Program open to researchers
The Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with Serum Institute of India Private Ltd., resulted in the historic development and large-scale public health use of MenAfriVac®. The introduction of this vaccine has led to the control and near-elimination of deadly meningitis A disease in Africa’s “meningitis belt”.
The clinical trials of MenAfriVac conducted in India and in Africa included an overall total of approximately 11,100 volunteers and generated a significant collection of medical and laboratory data in the MVP database. In addition, the MVP sera bank includes approximately 81,000 remaining vials of sera from the MVP clinical studies conducted in Africa.
Researchers conducting studies related to meningococcal disease and generally on vaccine-preventable diseases can submit research proposals to access the data and/or sera, provided that:
- The proposed research is in the public health interest and does not include genetic research.
- Researchers agree to comply with the laws, regulations, research standards, and ethical standards governing the MVP Clinical Study protocols and informed consents.
For more information on the program, read our fact sheet. To find out more about the available data and sera, and how to submit a proposal, please email meningitisresearch@path.org.
PATH and Serum Institute representatives, in close coordination with representatives of the research sites where the MVP studies were conducted and sera collected, will review all research proposals submitted by qualified investigators and will maintain the list of approved proposals and investigators on this page. Please note that the access program is not a source of funding for submitted research proposals and that researchers can anticipate incurring modest costs for processing and shipping samples.
MVP Access Program’s approved projects
The MVP Access Program allows researchers conducting studies related to meningococcal disease and generally on vaccine-preventable diseases to access the data and/or sera from the MVP clinical studies. The six currently approved research projects are:
Analysis of the antibody response following vaccination with MenAfriVac using mathematical and statistical models
- Institution: Imperial College London
- Lead investigator: Michael White
- Collaborating investigators: Olubukola Idoko, Samba Sow, Caroline Trotter, Ray Borrow
Association between nutritional status and immunogenicity of meningococcal vaccines among children under 5 years old
- Institution: University of Minnesota
- Lead investigators: Maria Sundaram, Nicole Basta
- Collaborating investigators: Samba Sow, Aldiouma Diallo, Patrick Ansah
Persistence of (humoral) immunity in children after yellow fever vaccination
- Institution: Robert Koch Institute
- Lead investigator: Cristina Domingo Carrasco
- Collaborating investigators: Patrick Ansah
Immunogenicity and reactogenicity to vaccines in malnourished children
- Institution: Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia
- Lead investigator: Olubukola Idoko
- Collaborating investigators: Samba Sow, Milagritos Tapia, Aldiouma Diallo, Abraham Hodgson
Evaluation of the persistence of meningococcal A serum antibody in children approximately 4 years after receiving primary immunization in Study PsA-TT-007
- Institution: PATH
- Lead investigator: Niranjan Bhat
- Collaborating investigators: Samba Sow
Seroepidemiology study of Zika virus and other arboviral fevers in selected West African countries between 2009 and 2013
- Institution: University of Siena
- Lead investigator: Emanuele Montomoli
- Collaborating investigators: Simonetta Viviani, Serena Marchi, Claudia Trombetta
Development, qualification, and validation of serum bactericidal assays (SBA) to measure the activity of human serum antibodies to Neisseria meningitidis serotypes A, C, W, Y, and X using rabbit component
- Institution: NeoMed Labs Inc.
- Lead investigator: Luc Gagnon
- Collaborating investigators: Samba Sow, Amol Chaudhari
Exploring the relationship between malnutrition and immune responses to childhood vaccines
- Institution: Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia
- Lead investigator: Olubukola Idoko
- Collaborating investigators: Samba Sow, Abraham Hodgson, Beate Kampmann
MenAfriVac is a registered trademark of Serum Institute of India Private Ltd.
