Ebola: US to Conduct Vaccine Trial in Nigeria

The United States health officials have said they are considering a trial test of the recently launched Ebola vaccine in Nigeria, as they also prepare to test the vaccine in The Gambia and Mali in mid-September.

The Ebola vaccine was developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the US National Institutes of Health, and GlaxoSmithKline. The testing is expected to start on Tuesday with 20 volunteers to see if the virus is safe for use on humans.

According to the statement, these trials are conducted in healthy adults who are not infected with Ebola virus to determine if the vaccine is safe and induces an adequate immune response. The statement reads in part:

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has initiated discussions with Ministry of Health officials in Nigeria about the prospects for conducting a Phase 1 safety study of the vaccine among healthy adults in that country.  

The pace of human safety testing for experimental Ebola vaccines has been expedited in response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. The early-stage trial will begin initial human testing of a vaccine co-developed by NIAID and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and will evaluate the experimental vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune system response in healthy adults. Testing will take place at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland,”  

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