​Zikavax, a four-year project financed by the European Union, began on October 1. CEA-IMETI, the European Vaccine Initiative, Institut Pasteur and Themis Bioscience are combining their expertise to develop a vaccine against infection by the Zika virus.

Epidemiological data based on the rapid spread of the virus in the South Pacific islands and Latin America indicates that it may be linked to neurological complications in adults as well as severe malformations in newborns whose mothers have been infected. The World Health Organization declared the recent epidemic a public health emergency.

Zikavax's goal is to respond to this public health problem by developing a vaccination using an inactive measles virus as a vector. This type of vector has already shown its effectiveness in proofs of concept validated on a variety of pathogens. Researchers will first select antigens, then study how the vaccine works in animal models using rodents, then non-human primates.

This project received a €5 million budget from the European Union as part of the H2020 program, which is investing a total of €45 million in research to fight the Zika virus.