Ebola experimental vaccine trial may begin soon in Uganda

Ebola experimental vaccine trial may begin soon in Uganda A trial of one or possibly two experimental vaccines to protect against the Ebola Sudan virus may begin shortly in Uganda, where there have been at least 36 cases and 23 deaths from the virus. Helen Branswell STAT

The trial could get underway within a couple of weeks and definitely before the end of October, said Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, who heads WHO’s R&D Blueprint effort to develop drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines to respond to outbreaks of rare and dangerous pathogens.

Henao-Restrepo and her team in WHO’s Health Emergencies Program have been meeting since last week to try to determine if any of the vaccines in development are far enough along to warrant testing in the fast-growing Ebola Sudan outbreak, which was first recognized early last week. ...

There are two licensed vaccines that protect against the Ebola Zaire species, but the Zaire and Sudan versions of these viruses are different enough from one another that those two vaccines — made by Merck and Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson — will not work against this virus. ...

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