A new Ebola vaccine called ChAd3-EBO-Z has passed initial clinical trials to show strong immune responses and good tolerance in adults in Mali, West Africa and the US. The trials were conducted by a global consortium of esteemed scientists who came together at the request of the World Health Organisation.

The research was conducted in Mali, West Africa and Baltimore to include the first vaccine testing in at-risk people in Africa such as adult health care workers. The tests established the required dose for subsequent clinical trials as well as vaccine manufacturing on a large scale.

Ultimate findings regarding safety and efficacy will be important to provide crucial protection to immediate contacts of patients with confirmed Ebola, such as their neighbours and family members, in order to curtail future epidemics. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals has sponsored larger trials of the vaccine, which are already being conducted.

Myron M. Levine, Associate Dean for Global Health, Vaccinology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) and overall coordinator of the study, said, “This is a crucial step on the road to using this vaccine in humans,” in a university press release. “This gives us essential information that the vaccine is not only well-tolerated but the high dose stimulates strong immune responses in adults in West Africa, the global region where the Ebola outbreak was rampant last year.”

The vaccine can be a potential tool to prevent future Ebola outbreaks on obtaining regulatory approvals, say the researchers. This would depend on larger trials corroborating the clinical acceptability and immunogenicity of the vaccine in initial trials. All contacts of Ebola patients would need to be vaccinated to achieve these results.

The study has been published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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