The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to grant Sanofi Pasteur with $ 43,2 millions for the manufacture of an inactivated Zika vaccine. The Zika vaccine candidate has been jointly developed by the vaccine global business unit of French multinational in collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). The new funds shall allow to take WRAIR’s Zika purified inactivated virus (ZPIV) vaccine into phase II development with manufacturing and characterization of the vaccine product as well as optimization of the upstream process to improve production yields.