Invitational Funders Meeting Report

CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity
Invitational Funders Meeting Report
January 16, 2009

Executive Summary


The Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Infection and Immunity (CIHR-III) hosted an invitational meeting of representatives from organizations that fund and support vaccine research in Canada on January 16, 2009 in Ottawa. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a strategy to support vaccine research and development that will lead to new vaccine technologies and enhanced economic development, and ultimately to better health-care and public health outcomes.

Vaccine research has been a priority of the CIHR-III since its inception, and the Institute has supported vaccine research in a variety of ways over the years. In spite of these investments, there is still a need for additional basic research to develop innovative approaches for vaccine development, especially in light of recent challenges in HIV vaccine clinical trials, the ineffectiveness of conventional methods for the development vaccines against several serious pathogens and the potential for vaccine therapies to treat or prevent chronic diseases. These are some of reasons why the Institute included “Vaccines of the 21st Century” as one of its five research priority areas in its 2007-2012 Strategic Plan.

To facilitate the development of an implementation strategy for the Vaccines of the 21st Century strategic research priority, in 2008, CIHR-III surveyed vaccine researchers and representatives from vaccine-related organizations across Canada. Their responses formed the basis of a report entitled: Vaccines for the 21st Century—Taking Canada to the Next Level.

The report outlined several significant contributions that Canada has made to vaccine research and development and summarized our vaccine research strengths in basic discovery research, epidemiology and vaccine evaluation. Challenges faced by vaccine researchers and representatives of vaccine-related organizations and their recommendations on ways to address these challenges, including specific research areas that should be supported were also described in the report.

The January 16, 2009 meeting in Ottawa enabled meeting participants to apply the report’s findings to the task of identifying new collaborative vaccine research investment opportunities and funding partners.

Meeting participants, working in small groups, identified strategic research priorities and opportunities for future vaccine research. Strategic research areas identified by meeting participants as top priorities were:

  • Systems biology approaches for rational vaccine design including discovery of novel adjuvants, new methods of vaccine delivery and to modulate host immune responses and to understand correlates of protection in order to develop new platform technologies for new vaccine discovery.
  • Research into novel methods to communicate the safety and benefits of vaccines to the public to improve the uptake of vaccines.
  • Improved methods for gathering, analyzing and sharing data to provide timely information to vaccine researchers and developers, decision makers and health-care experts.

Suggested approaches to support research in the top priority areas included:

  • Create interdisciplinary teams/networks/centres with groups of individuals working at all stages of the vaccine discovery and development including industry and regulators to ensure that new vaccine discoveries are developed in an efficient and timely manner.
  • Aggressively pursue international research collaborations and funding opportunities to ensure relevance and enhance funding.
  • Include a broad training component to maintain expertise in vaccine research in Canada.
  • Consider choosing a pathogen or disease focus for research to build enthusiasm and serve as a model for subsequent vaccine development.

The results of this meeting will guide CIHR-III in developing implementation strategies that help position Canada a global leader in vaccine research.

This report is intended to be circulated widely to all those interested in supporting vaccine research in Canada. Partnership development efforts will begin in February 2009, and the first partnered funding opportunities are planned to be launched later in the year. It is anticipated that the funding programs arising from this initiative will support research activities from 2010 through to 2015.