Translating Pre-clinical rVSV Success into Field-Ready Vaccines for Bundibugyo Ebolavirus

Published on 24 September 2026

Lessons from ERVEBO® and recombinant albumin for the 2026 Bundibugyo outbreak

The filovirus virion: a fragile, host-cell-derived lipid bilayer studded with glycoprotein trimers — and the biophysical problem every rVSV-vectored vaccine formulation has to solve.

Publication Details

Study Overview

This review examines what it takes to move an rVSV-vectored Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine from preclinical proof of concept into a product that survives manufacture, freezing, thaw, and field handling. It traces the rVSV platform from the Guinea ring vaccination trial through the PREVAC consortium and its five-year follow-up, then sets out the bioprocessing and formulation decisions — particularly the role of recombinant human serum albumin — that determine whether a candidate reaches remote health zones.

Key Findings

• An rVSV vector expressing Bundibugyo glycoprotein conferred 83% post-exposure survival in nonhuman primates, against roughly 21–23% expected survival in historical untreated controls
• Recombinant albumin passivates process contact surfaces, raising sterile filtration step yield from 42% to 74% by infectious potency on the rVSV platform
• The same effect holds across depth filtration and tangential flow filtration, with InVitria internal data showing comparable gains in enveloped lentiviral vectors
• Where albumin enters the process is a process-design decision, not only a final-formulation one
• Recombinant albumin is animal-origin-free, avoiding the lot variability, hypersensitivity, and cultural-acceptability barriers associated with hydrolyzed gelatin

Why This Matters

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Disclosure: Both authors are employees of InVitria, Inc., which manufactures and sells the recombinant human serum albumin products Exbumin® and Optibumin® 25 discussed in this review. InVitria supplied the recombinant human serum albumin used in the licensed ERVEBO® formulation.