First human studies promising for made-in-Canada Ebola vaccine

The first human trials of a designed-in-Canada Ebola vaccine suggest it is safe and triggers a rapid immune response, studies published Wednesday reveal.

The work, based on six different clinical trials in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Gabon and Kenya, found the vaccine quickly generates antibodies in people who receive it. Whether those antibodies protect against infection remains to be seen, but early evidence suggests that is a strong possibility.

The vaccine is called rVSV-ZEBOV and was designed by scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, part of the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is being developed by U.S. biotech NewLink Genetics and pharma giant Merck.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the research describes Phase 1 clinical trials and shows for the first time what happens when this vaccine is given to a number of people.

Phase 1 trials are designed to show if an experimental product is safe and to help determine what an appropriate dose should be. They are too small to answer the question: Does this vaccine work?

It is hoped the answer will come from larger Phase 3 trials currently underway in West Africa.

The research, grouped into two reports, shows people who received the vaccine started to generate antibodies quickly. That is an attractive feature in a vaccine that would be used to quell future Ebola outbreaks, if it makes it through the licensing process.

There were pretty positive signals of immunogenicity at 14 days post vaccination across both of the (vaccine) doses that are reported, said Col. Stephen Thomas, a senior author of the article describing the findings of the two U.S. trials. Those two trials were conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both located in Bethesda, Md.

By Day 28, all the vaccinated volunteers had shown an antibody response.

The article reporting on data from the European and African trials revealed that blood from vaccinated subjects contained antibodies that neutralized or killed Ebola virus a finding that adds weight to the belief that this vaccine should protect against infection.

Read more:
First human studies promising for made-in-Canada Ebola vaccine