Ebola Vaccine Development News: Trials to Start This Month Or Next - W.H.O.
Final-stage trials of experimental Ebola vaccines are set to start in January or February in the worst-hit West African countries as scientists and drugmakers race to block the disease that has claimed over 8,000 lives, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) said on Thursday.
Nearly 90 experts from vaccine manufacturers, regulatory agencies and health ministries met at W.H.O. headquarters in Geneva to review data from initial safety trials and to finalize plans for the phase III large-scale clinical trials in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
If effective, the vaccine will be made available after a few months.
"It is my understanding that no major safety signals have been reported to date," W.H.O. Director-General Margaret Chan told the meeting in opening remarks obtained by Reuters.
"We all want the momentum and sense of urgency to continue," she said. "Too many health care workers are still getting infected, including nationals and doctors and nurses from foreign medical teams."
Two vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline and another from a joint effort between NewLink Genetics and Merck began initial clinical testing in the autumn. A third one from Johnson & Johnson and Bavarian Nordic has just reached the first-in-human testing stage.
The talks also assessed the funding situation as the GAVI global vaccines alliance said last month it was committing up to $300 million to buy Ebola shots.
Sierra Leone, the country worst hit by Ebola, is set to start vaccine trials in the second half of January, Samuel Kargbo of its health ministry told Reuters Television on the sidelines of the Geneva talks.
Ebola continues to spread in Monrovia, but cases are scattered throughout the Liberian capital, making it hard to identify distinct chains of transmission, according to Chan.
"Many believe that the virus has moved from the cities into extremely remote rural areas, making it difficult to see what is really happening in Liberia," she said.
W.H.O. Assistant-Director for Health Security Keiji Fukuda told Reuters: "There are ups and downs. We have to be very cautious. We don't want people to get the idea this is over."
