Vaccine against Ebola may enter a phase of testing within weeks – Gazeta.pl

- NewLink Genetics has signed contracts with three companies and will be able to produce tens of thousands of doses of vaccine within a month or two – said Dr. Charles Link, NewLink Genetics Corp. director, which will produce a vaccine licensed in Canada.

Also, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline waiting for permission of the American Agency for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin testing an experimental vaccine against Ebola in humans; testing can begin as early as September.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the two experimental vaccines will enter a phase of clinical trials in the coming weeks and the data from the early stages of testing may prove to be sufficient to consider introduction of vaccines for use at the end of the year.

USA subsidizes research

Last week, the company BioProtection Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of NewLink Genetics, received a special risk reduction agency of the Ministry of Defense (DTRA) $ 1 million. grants for toxicological studies, including accelerated the production process to test a vaccine against Ebola in humans can begin as soon as possible.

– DTRA said that he wants to ‘move on this fast’ (…). Previously, I would say that we need eight to ten months to begin testing on humans, but now it is a matter of weeks – said Dr. Link.

The company is in talks with the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute of Health USA and Military Medical Center, Walter Reed about where to conduct clinical trials and how to recruit volunteers who will inspect them.

Tests in the USA and Africa

– In order to obtain reliable data, perform tests on a group of 20 to 100 healthy subjects who, after receiving all necessary information to sign a consent for testing. Doctors and military personnel who are exposed to contact with persons infected with Ebola, are the most likely candidates to participate in clinical trials – Dr. Link said in an interview with Reuters.

At least one of these tests will be carried out in the USA ; there is a possibility that the research will be organized in Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the number of deaths of Ebola epidemics in West Africa was in 1069; 1975 people are infected with the virus.

On Tuesday, WHO experts have determined that the use of unapproved drugs or vaccines against Ebola epidemic in West Africa is ethical.

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