Ebola vaccine trial initiated in Gabon
Researchers at the University of Tübingen are testing an Ebola vaccine in healthy adults in Gabon. The first voluntary trial participants are being vaccinated today.
(18/11/2014) Clinical phase I trials for a potential vaccine against Ebola are currently being initiated in different locations in the USA, Europe and Africa. This includes a trial at CERMEL in Lambaréné in Gabon, which is being conducted by researchers from the University of Tübingen together with their colleagues on site. “The clinical trial will give us information about how well the vaccine is tolerated by people in the African population,” explains Prof Peter Kremsner, the trial coordinator and Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of Tübingen. He is also a researcher at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). “The project is of crucial importance for enabling a rapid distribution of the vaccine in West Africa, as soon as a safe and immunogenic dose has been established.”
The trial is part of the recently established WHO led international expert consortium (VEBCON), which aims to rapidly coordinate clinical vaccine testing in Africa. The WHO is providing the candidate vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV for the different locations. Besides this, the clinical trial in Gabon is being supported by the research consortium EBOKON, recently initiated in Germany, which will receive over 2 million Euros from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) up to the end of 2015. EBOKON was recently started by the German Center of Infection Research to strengthen Ebola research and support the fight against the epidemic. The DZIF is also supporting a trial running at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf which is commencing at the same time.
The clinical phase I trial tests the safety and tolerability of different vaccine doses. The candidate vaccine being used is an attenuated, genetically modified vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which carries an Ebola virus surface protein. The immune systems of the vaccinated trial participants are expected to create antibodies against this protein, which in the event of exposure to the Ebola virus help to prevent the disease from occurring. “We hope that the vaccine will be effective,” Kremsner says.
The first vaccination is being conducted today. Initial results are expected to be available in only a few weeks’ time. This data will enable a rapid decision as to whether the vaccine can be implemented in the affected West African countries and if so, in which dosage.