A high-stakes push to shield the world from Nipah virus
Nipah virus stands among the deadliest pathogens on the planet, and today there are no approved countermeasures. CEPI is changing that reality with a $150 million Nipah R&D portfolio that covers every step of preparedness—from creating and producing countermeasures to anticipating a Nipah-like Disease X from the same paramyxovirus family. This effort includes backing the world’s most advanced Nipah vaccine candidate, now in Phase II trials in Bangladesh.
For this Innovations for Impact piece, we spoke with icddr,b’s Dr K Zaman, who is leading the first Phase II Nipah vaccine trials, and CEPI Nipah programme lead Rick Jarman. Their insights illuminate how CEPI is helping the world brace for one of the most lethal viral threats.
The little-known danger behind a familiar drink
Fruit juice, a staple enjoyed around the globe, can carry deadly risk for people in parts of Bangladesh. Raw date juice is a beloved rural beverage, but it can be contaminated by fruit bats that carry Nipah virus.
“Raw date juice is a well-enjoyed drink among rural communities in Bangladesh. But many don’t realise it can be contaminated by bats who carry the Nipah virus,” said Dr K Zaman, principal investigator of the first-ever Phase II CEPI-funded Nipah vaccine trial at icddr,b. “People drink the juice and become infected.”
Since its discovery in 1998, Nipah outbreaks have mainly occurred in South and Southeast Asia. Yet the virus’s natural hosts—the fruit bats—live across regions that house more than two billion people. As human activity encroaches on bat habitats, the chance of spillover grows ever higher.
This simple act of thirst can have fatal consequences. Nipah virus can kill up to 75 percent of those it infects, making it one of the world’s most lethal pathogens.
This combination of a terrifying death rate and Nipah’s potential to mutate and spread beyond current regions is driving scientists to pursue a protective vaccine.
One vaccine candidate, developed through a CEPI-funded collaboration with the University of Oxford using the ChAdOx platform, was the first to enter mid-stage clinical testing in Bangladesh in late 2025.
Dr Zaman, who has overseen 78 clinical trials at icddr,b, hopes that this Phase II trial will yield new knowledge about how a future Nipah vaccine could save lives in Bangladesh.
And the potential benefits extend beyond Bangladesh. Since Nipah’s discovery, outbreaks have been mostly in South and Southeast Asia, but the fruit bat hosts span areas where more than two billion people live. As human activity pushes deeper into bat territories, the spillover risk continues to rise.
CEPI’s view: a broad threat requires broad preparedness
Rick Jarman, CEPI’s Nipah programme lead, highlights a key concern: many domestic and farm animals can be infected by Nipah via bat contamination. Each spillover event raises the chance of viral mutation and greater transmissibility, underscoring why prevention matters as much as response.
CEPI is the world’s largest funder of Nipah research and development. Its $150 million portfolio supports two Nipah vaccine candidates and a monoclonal antibody, spanning the full preparedness chain—from research and manufacturing to strategies for a hypothetical Nipah-like Disease X, an as-yet-unidentified pathogen from the same paramyxovirus family.
A pivotal partnership with the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India (the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and a central part of CEPI’s Vaccine Manufacturing Network) is central to this effort. Serum is manufacturing Oxford’s ChAdOx1 NipahB vaccine candidate for the Phase II trials in Bangladesh, and this collaboration aims to establish an investigational reserve of up to 100,000 doses. In an outbreak, these doses could be deployed under a research protocol to accelerate progress toward licensure.
Jarman calls this investigational reserve CEPI’s top priority for Nipah in the near term. With ready-to-use doses in a high-risk region, emergency trials could move the candidate toward licensure and, if effective, offer protection to those most at risk.
The Serum partnership goes beyond manufacturing. It brings together regulatory expertise, strong ties with the Indian government, and regional know-how to turn Nipah vaccine development into a practical reality.
Why vaccines aren’t the whole story—and how an antibody could help now
Because Nipah outbreaks tend to be small and sporadic, large-scale efficacy trials necessary for traditional licensure are unlikely. That’s where real-world use data could supplement regulatory pathways. CEPI is funding a Nipah monoclonal antibody (mAb) to provide immediate protection—bridging the gap as longer-lasting vaccine-induced immunity takes hold. This approach could be especially valuable for protecting high-risk groups such as frontline healthcare workers.
In an unprecedented step, ServareGMP—a nonprofit biotech partner—will begin early-to-mid-stage trials of the Nipah mAb, MBP1F5, in a Nipah-affected country in 2026.
Together, vaccines and mAbs form a potent shield that could curb outbreaks and shape a faster, more effective response strategy.
Paving the way for faster future responses
CEPI’s strategy involves investing in a spectrum of novel technologies and modalities. This broad approach increases the odds of successful countermeasure development and tests the viability of these tools for a future Disease X. It also strengthens global preparedness not just against Nipah, but across the entire paramyxovirus family. If a new paramyxovirus Disease X emerges, rapid-response platforms like ChAdOx could be quickly adapted to create new vaccines, leveraging the knowledge and data generated from Nipah research. This aligns with CEPI’s 100 Days Mission, which aims to cut vaccine development timelines to 100 days in the face of a new pandemic threat.
All of these efforts—countermeasure development, scalable manufacturing, and readiness for Disease X—form a connected chain. Together, they offer a pathway to stopping a future Nipah outbreak in its tracks while also diminishing the broader threat posed by the pernicious paramyxovirus family.
