New Trials of ZMapp, Ebola vaccine start soon

Helen Branswell The Canadian PressClinical trials designed to show whether two Ebola vaccines and the Ebola therapy ZMapp actually work will begin within the next two to three weeks, American officials designing the studies said Thursday.

But falling case counts in the three West African countries where the outbreak has raged are forcing some modification of the vaccine trial designs — and potentially lowering expectations of what they will be able to achieve, the officials acknowledged.

The largest of the planned vaccine trials — expected to begin within the next two weeks in Liberia — may be expanded into Sierra Leone, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

New Ebola Vaccine Trials to Start in Liberia in Late January

The first large-scale Ebola vaccine trials in West Africa are expected to start in Liberia as early as late January, a senior official at the World Health Organisation (WHO) official said Friday.

No less that 9,000 people are expected to take part in the study on the chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine.

According to WHO Assistant Director General Marie-Paule Kieny, the vaccine is produced by British company GlaxoSmithKline, as well as VSV, produced by U.S. firm Merck.

Kieny added that safety tests on humans in Western research institutions over the past months have shown acceptable results for the two vaccines.

Swiss study of Canadian made Ebola vaccine resumes

The Guinean village of Meliandou is widely believed to have been the home of the current Ebola outbreak's Patient Zero. AP

Helen Branswell The Canadian Press A trial in Switzerland of a Canadian-made Ebola vaccine resumed this week after being suspended over concerns about an unexpected side-effect reported by some volunteers.

And while the Geneva-based trial of the rVSV-ZEBOV got back on track, researchers at Oxford University began testing another Ebola vaccine, made by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

The Janssen vaccine joins rVSV-ZEBOV, which is being developed by Merck and NewLink Genetics, and a vaccine being developed by GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline) in the race to provide the world with a licensed Ebola preventative.

Trial of Canadian Ebola vaccine suspended

This undated file image made available by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows the Ebola virus. AP

Helen BranswellThe Canadian Press
Swiss researchers have temporarily halted a clinical trial of a Canadian-made Ebola vaccine after seeing an unexpected side-effect in a few people who received the serum.

None of the other teams currently testing the vaccine has reported seeing the same side-effect, and the Swiss scientists acknowledge that the symptoms they have spotted are mild.

But they said Thursday that they want a little time to assess the situation before they resume vaccinating subjects in the clinical trial.

“We want to make sure that it doesn’t move into something more severe before we inject anybody else,” said Dr. Angela Huttner in an interview from Geneva.

“So far all signs are really positive.”