GlaxoSmithKline's Ebola Vaccine Passes First Human Trial

The first human trials of a vaccine against Ebola have been successful, but it will be months, at best, before it can be used to stem the outbreak in West Africa.

The origins of the vaccine go back more than a decade. A chimpanzee cold virus was modified to carry Ebola genetic material conferring protection against the Zaire strain of Ebola. This was shown to be effective in monkeys, although the benefits wore off with time.

Progress was delayed not by technical obstacles but economics. Previous outbreaks were controlled by tracing and quarantining the sick. With the people most endangered also being the least able to pay, funding was limited. Via Business Insider.

GlaxoSmithKline Takes A Step Closer To Ebola Vaccine

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) $GSK, the Britain-based pharmaceuticals company is inching closer to finding a vaccine for the deadly virus Ebola. The company's test Ebola vaccine, which has already been tested in nearly 200 people has shown no side effects on healthy human beings so far, which is a positive sign at the early stages of the study.

Photo via CNBC Africa courtesy of Doctor's channel

According to reports on Monday, the safety data so far are very satisfactory, which means there is no threat with regard to the safety of the vaccinated subjects.


Since the trials began about two months ago, the program has used approximately 200 healthy human volunteers from the U.S, Britain, Mali and Switzerland.

The experimental shot uses a single Ebola virus gene from a chimpanzee virus to generate an immune response. Because it doesn’t contain any infectious virus material, it can’t infect those being vaccinated.

Latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that the latest Ebola outbreak has now infected more than 13,000 people with virtually all of them being from West Africa, especially in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. out of these, 5,000 have been reported to have succumbed to the virus.

Reports also suggest that biotech companies are accelerating the drug trials for Ebola vaccine, while WHO remains hopeful that one or more of the vaccines may be ready for some limited use in West Africa, in early 2015.

Dozens Volunteer For Ebola Test Vaccine

The world's most popular virus at the moment, Ebola,  seems to have touched the hearts of many as researchers try to find a vaccine in a bid to control the outbreak. GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), (LSE:GSK) $GSK, has been working on several Ebola vaccine products in a bid to cut the spread of the deadly virus.

According to reports, the U.K -based pharmaceuticals company may have found a product that is now ready to test on healthy human beings. The research team is looking for 120 volunteers for the test program and reports indicate that more than 50 have already volunteered.

The city of Lausanne, Switzerland  will host the test program for GlaxoSmithKline product in what would be the largest study for leading experimental vaccine in fight against Ebola.

While reports indicate that a majority of the volunteers are mainly doctors and medical students, the fact that some people are willing to become test subjects in what could possibly emerge to be a death ticket shows that at last, scientists could be making a major milestone towards fighting Ebola.

World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that, if kept unchecked, Ebola could strike as many as 10,000 people per week by December this year. However, according to Dr. Blaise Genton, a professor at the University Hospital of Lausanne, who has worked on more than 20 vaccine trials, there could be some progress towards finding a vaccine. He believes that the current string of vaccine to be tested is very different from the others, and expressed a great deal of optimism on the product.

"We need to go very fast so that we may have something more than what we have now in terms of preventive measures", Genton Said. A shipment of vials of the vaccine is expected to arrive today or tomorrow (Thursday), enabling inoculations to begin this week. Unconfirmed reports suggest that GlaxoSmithKline's experimental shot is based on a live version of a genetically modified chimpanzee virus that contains an Ebola gene.

Meanwhile, the volunteers from the broader community will receive $845 or 800 Swiss Francs as compensation for time spent and travel expenses.