Europe Commits $254M To Ebola Treatments
The EU has committed $250 million dollars as part of its Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) to the ongoing development of Ebola vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other products with hopes of speeding the start of clinical trials, Reuters reports.
Launched in 2008, the IMI is a partnership between drug makers and the European commission, and the $250 million represents a sizeable chunk of its overall total budget of $4.2 billion to be spent in the next ten years. This Ebola commitment is only one of 46 projects currently underway.
Under the terms of the agreement, the European Commission will contribute $127 million, which will be matched by drug makers with products in development. According to an unnamed Reuters source, the IMI project would “help galvanize knowledge and capacity sharing in a major way.”
One of the largest targets of the money is the development of a vaccine. Clinical trials for experimental drugs are being rushed towards West Africa with hopes of curbing the spread of the disease, particularly to frontline healthcare workers.
With many of these healthcare workers returning to their native countries, there is renewed public pressure for a vaccine. So far there has been one positive diagnosis in New York City, one in Madrid and three in Dallas — three of whom contracted the disease in West Africa.
Though there are many experimental treatments currently being approved on a case by case basis by the FDA, there are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Ebola. Experts hope that data collected from clinical trials for these drugs will change that.
Reuters reports these clinical trials will begin in December, a month ahead of schedule. According to WHO official, Marie-Paule Kieny, this expedited schedule is proof of a global commitment to fighting the disease and a “massive effort which is undertaken by everybody to make this happen.”
Right now, the two leading experimental vaccines come from GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink Genetics, with another from Johnson & Johnson to begin clinical trial in January. There are five additional candidates currently in the works.
Conclusive data from these trials is expected as early as April, says Reuters. However, world health leaders are still hammering out the details of correct clinical trial parameters and conclusive endpoints.
The West African Ebola outbreak, touted as the biggest outbreak since the conditions’ discovery in 1976, has resulted in 5,000 reported deaths. According to Reuters, the number of unreported deaths is likely to be far greater. WHO speculates it could be as many as 15,000.