An experimental vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus will soon be subjected to clinical trials, according to the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which is developed with scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, for its acronym in English) of America.
There is no proven cure or vaccine against Ebola and extent of the current outbreak, which has killed almost one thousand people, led the World Health Organization to declare an international health emergency. The disease may continue spreading for months.
The Ebola virus is spread from person to person by direct contact through mucous membranes or continuity solutions skin organs, blood, secretions or body fluids of an infected person or by indirect contact with contaminated materials for these liquids. It is considered suspect if anyone who has had a fever (greater than 38), contact with a confirmed case of Ebola in the 21 days prior to the onset of symptoms and who has traveled to regions with confirmed virus circulation.
The experimental vaccine GSK gave promising results in primates and now will enter Phase I human trials, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the USA A company spokesman said Sunday that the test should be launched "later this year", while the partner GSK, NIAID, said in a statement on its website that it would start "and in autumn 2014 ", implying that the start of the tests may occur in September.
However, even though the tests be expedited and emergency procedures were implemented, the new vaccine may not be ready for widespread use by 2015, even assuming it works as well as expected.
"It's in the first stage of development and still has a very long way to go," said GSK official, who agreed to define a possible timetable for the launch of the vaccine.
The vaccine is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus in which two genes are inserted Ebola, which means that no material containing infectious Ebola. Adenoviruses are known to cause the common cold.
When the vaccine enters a cell and deliver their genetic cargo, the two inserted genes produce a protein that generates an immune response in the body, but the adenovirus carrying the gene is not replicated.
GKS acquired after buying the vaccine last year the biotechnology company based in Switzerland, Okairos, for 250 million euros.
The NIAID-part of the National Institutes of Health-also supports the work being done with other vaccines against Ebola, one of the Crucell by Johnson & Johnson division that should initiate a Phase I clinical trial in late 2015 or early 2016 vaccine Crucell also seeks to provide protection against Marburg haemorrhagic fever, other severe disease and high mortality caused by a virus of the same family as Ebola.
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