Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations- Open calls for proposals

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) has currently 4 open calls for proposals:

•  CFP-170: Develop an Open-Access ISCOM Adjuvant for Global Health:

This call’s goal is to identify and support developers with the capability and commitment to advance an ISCOM adjuvant from early-stage development through to Good Manufacturing Practice readiness. The selected developer or consortium will be responsible for conducting freedom to operate analysis as well as for the development pathway, including formulation, process optimization, preclinical evaluation, toxicology and preparation of a comprehensive GMP data package suitable for regulatory submission and technology transfer.

Total funding: 5M USD, over 3 years.

Read more here. 

Submission deadline, 30th of January 2026.

•   CFP-165: Innovative analytical technologies in support of vaccine release speed, cost and deployment

The overall objective is to advance analytical technologies and innovations that can support making scalable and globally accessible vaccines available within 100 days of a viral outbreak. Three focus areas (FA) have been defined, related to Speed & Access, Sample generation and Characterisation. This Call for Proposals is aimed at advancing technologies and innovations that contribute to the goals of:

• Reducing the current time required to release manufactured vaccine product.
• Minimise method development time or eliminate the requirement of biological reagents used in some methods, as the development and manufacture of such reagents are a time-consuming bottleneck to the development of the analytical method itself.
• Address the complexity and operator time required to execute many of the analytical methods with a view to impacting equitable access by FTE cost reduction, improve tech transferability, and improve quality through reducing errors with improved useability.
• Provide improved characterisation of vaccine products with novel tools/methods.

Two focus areas have been defined: Focus Area A: Minimising time/cost to release/develop vaccine and Focus Area B: Vaccine Characterisation.

Projects should have a 30 month timeline, according to the following stages:

Stage 1: For a budget not exceeding $0.2M, for up to 12 months, an initial “proof of concept”project will demonstrate that the technology can detect a vaccine relevant analyte to the expected levels

Stage 2: Applicants with technologies that show successful proof-of-concept, either following stage 1 completion, or where existing legacy data are available, are eligible to apply for up to $0.8M for an 18-month development phase to “commercial design freeze/ready for validation

Read more here. 

Submission deadline, 1st of May 2026.

• CFP-144: Innovations CfP_Focus Area 2: Vaccine candidates for priority pathogens and viral families

The objective for Focus Area 2 is to advance new vaccine candidates for CEPI priority pathogens and viral families, aligned with CEPI’s strategic objectives to accelerate development of vaccines against known high-risk pathogens and to build a library of exemplar vaccines against prototype viruses from high-risk viral families to give a head-start on novel threats (Disease X).

Priority pathogens: Lassa fever, Paramyxoviruses, Arenaviruses, Coronaviruses other than ACE-2 binding Sarbecoviruses with human spillover or potential for human spillover that pose a credible epidemic or pandemic threat, Phenuiviruses, Nairoviruses

 Support is offered in the following 3 mechanisms:

• Exploratory Award: Up to US $1M over 18 months to support the design and early-stage testing of new vaccine candidates.
• Preclinical Development Award: Up to US $5M to demonstrate preclinical proof of concept. In-scope activities include preclinical efficacy studies, studies that support regulatory filing (e.g., IND-enabling studies), and CMC development related to analytical methods, process optimization, characterization, and scale-up, and/or formulation.
• Clinical Development Award: Up to five years of support for clinical testing of a vaccine candidate.

Read more here. 

Submission deadline, 14th of April 2026

• CFP-143: Innovations CfP_Focus Area 1: Innovative vaccine platforms that can transform outbreak response

CEPI invites proposals to advance vaccine platforms through Phase I proof of concept. Developers with very early-stage technologies can apply for an Exploratory Award of up to US $1M over a maximum of 18 months to assess the feasibility of their technology and address key data gaps. Applications for Exploratory Awards will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed monthly

Applications for Exploratory Awards under Focus Area 1 may include in vitro and/or in vivo studies to assess immunogenicity, efficacy, safety, and/or mechanism-of-action as well as exploratory CMC studies.

All other applications under Focus Area 1 (i.e., for platform development) may seek initial funding of up to US $5M for a maximum of 36 months, though exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis. If this initial investment yields promising results, CEPI may consider further investment in the platform. In-scope activities include preclinical studies, studies that support regulatory filing (e.g., IND-enabling studies), CMC development, platform optimization, manufacture of GMP material for Phase I studies, and conduct of Phase I studies.

Read more here. 

Submission deadline, 14th of April 2026.