The partnership builds on a longstanding relationship between Pirbright and GALVmed, combining CVIM’s expertise in vaccine development and evaluation with GALVmed’s experience in facilitating efficient delivery of quality veterinary products to small-scale producers in Africa. GALVmed will work with a local manufacturing partner to transfer the vaccine technology from CVIM, conduct safety and efficacy testing, including in the field, and secure market authorisation. The candidate vaccine is a replication-incompetent viral-vectored vaccine, which has been shown to be safe in pregnant animals, addressing a major limitation of existing licensed RVF vaccines. In livestock, the disease is characterised by high mortality rates and abortion, resulting in devastating socioeconomic impacts. "This programme will deliver a safe and effective vaccine against Rift Valley fever, a major livestock and zoonotic disease in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula."