NIH To Begin Human Trials For Ebola Vaccine

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last Thursday that it will begin human trials of an Ebola vaccine candidate this week.

The study will the first of a number of Phase I clinical trials will determine the safety and efficacy of a vaccine co-developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), according to the NIH statement.

It’s of utmost importance that the vaccine generate an immune system response in healthy adults. Twenty healthy adults, between the ages of 18 and 50, will participate in this initial study at the NIH’s clinical center in Bethesda, Maryland. Each person will receive an intramuscular injection of the vaccine.  In conjunction with the NIH research, a British consortium, including the Wellcome Trust, will also test the NIAID/GSK vaccine on healthy volunteers in Britain and in the West African countries of Gambia and Mali, pending regulatory approval.

In addition, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is discussing the possibility of Phase I studies of the Ebola vaccine with health authorities in Nigeria. There is an urgent need in that country, along with neighboring countries, with more than 1,552 suspected or confirmed deaths from the disease since earlier in the year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported.

“It is important to establish that a vaccine is safe and spurs the immune system to react in a way necessary to protect against infection,” NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, said.

The British consortium has also pledged nearly $4.6 million for the Phase I trials, which are expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

There are other treatments for Ebola currently in the works, including:

• ZMapp, which recently cured two U.S. doctors of Ebola
• Japan’s anti-influenza drug Avigan, though it has yet to be approved for the expanded treatment of Ebola
• A new vaccine developed by Canadian company Immunovaccine. The company just released its study results last Monday. The research was part of an NIH initiative to test potential antigens and agents that could trigger the immune system to produce antibodies against the Ebola virus.