Oxford begins Ebola vaccine trials
7 Jan 2015
Scientists at Oxford University are commencing initial safety trials of an Ebola vaccine which has already been shown to provide non-human primates with complete protection in pre-clinical studies.
The Oxford Vaccine Group will conduct trials of the Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine in 72 healthy adult volunteers aged between 18 and 50 years old.
The Group hopes to have all volunteers vaccinated as soon as possible.
“We aim to immunise all participants within a month,’ said Matthew Snape of the Oxford Vaccine Group, who will lead the study team.
“The more vaccines and more manufacturers there are working on this, the better
Ebola vaccine study leader Matthew Snape
“The main aim is to understand the safety profile of the vaccines.”
According to Snape, a safe and effective vaccine could begin to have an impact on the widespread West Africa Ebola epidemic later this year.
“That is the goal that is seeing manufacturers, public health bodies and research regulators come together to accelerate the first clinical trials of new Ebola vaccines,” Snape said.
Those involved in the Oxford-based trials will first be given a prime to the immune system to stimulate an initial immune response, and then a boost intended to further enhance the level of the body’s immune response over time.
According to the researchers, the vaccine regimen does not contain any replicating virus, so it is not possible to be infected with Ebola.
This month’s Ebola vaccine trial is the second to be conducted at Oxford University. The first, led by Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, trialled a different Ebola vaccine developed by GSK/US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Results from that trial are expected later this month, an Oxford University statement said.
“Having multiple vaccines progressing through clinical trials increases the likelihood of vaccine manufacturers having the capacity to meet production demands should mass immunisation be required. The more vaccines and more manufacturers there are working on this, the better,” Snape said, after commenting on a third Ebola vaccine currently being developed by Merck & Co and genetics firm NewLink which was initially developed via Canada’s public health agency.
For those interested in volunteering in Ebola vaccine trials, please visit: www.ebolavaccine.org.uk.
The current Ebola outbreak has already claimed the lives of more that 8,150 people with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone being most widely affected.
The first reports of Ebola spreading to the UK were confirmed last week when public health nurse Pauline Cafferkey returned home from Sierra Leone, and was susequently diagnosed with the virus. Her current situation is critical, but reports suggest it has stabilised.
Jonathan Ball, professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: “It’s great news that her condition has stabilised but she still remains in a critical condition so the coming hours and days will be crucial. We know that she was receiving an experimental drug as well as convalescent sera but it is difficult to ascertain if these have contributed to her stabilisation.
“Hopefully the excellent team of clinicians caring for her will be able to buy sufficient time for her to be able to mount a good immune response that would eventually clear the virus.”
An upcoming feature on Laboratorytalk will look at the frontrunners in the race to produce an effective Ebola vaccine and how it might impact the current epidemic.
Update - Wednesday 7th January
Oxford University has today announced that a clinical trial of a potential treatment for Ebola has started in Liberia, with the first patient receiving an oral antiviral drug called brincidofovir developed by the US-based Chimerix.
The trial is led by the University of Oxford and is taking place at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)’s ELWA 3 Ebola Management Centre in Monrovia.
Peter Horby of Oxford University’s Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, and the trial’s chief Investigator, said: “I’m delighted that the trial has started. It is a tribute to the momentous efforts of the Liberian authorities, MSF, and all the staff working in ELWA3 that we have begun 2015 with real progress towards identifying new treatments for Ebola.
“We can only fully evaluate potential Ebola therapies during an epidemic, and we have shown that this is possible, even during the worst epidemic in living memory.”
