2015-01-10 06:59
Geneva - Human tests of two possible Ebola vaccines have proven
safe and efficacy tests will begin within weeks in the three west
African countries ravaged by the deadly virus, the World Health
Organization said Friday.
"These trials are about to begin for the
two lead vaccines," WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny
told reporters, adding that the vaccines would be tested on thousands of
people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Phase III
testing to ensure the vaccines actually protect against the virus that
has killed 8,259 people in the three countries is set to begin in
Liberia by the end of the month, she said.
Separate tests are scheduled to start in Sierra Leone and Guinea in February, she added.
The vaccine manufacturers must determine before then what the appropriate dosage is, she said.
There
is no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, and the WHO has endorsed
rushing potential ones through trials in a bid to stem the epidemic.
The
two potential vaccines that have been undergoing Phase 1 safety tests
on humans are ChAd3, made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, and VSV-ZEBOV,
manufactured by the Public Health Agency of Canada and licenced by US
firm NewLink Genetics.
Tests of the two potential vaccines have
been conducted on volunteers in a range of countries, including
Switzerland, Mali, Gabon, Britain, Germany, Canada and the United
States.
Johnson & Johnson meanwhile announced this week that
human trials of its proposed vaccine had begun in Britain, and Kieny
said the company also expected to soon be able to start efficacy trials.
Describing
2014 as the year when "the Ebola virus challenged humanity," Kieny
voiced confidence that this year would be remembered as the one when
"humanity used our best scientific minds to fight back."
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