Experimental Ebola Vaccine Trials Show Safety Of Drug, Ability To Trigger Immune Response

Media outlets report on results from two Ebola experimental drug trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The reports, titled “A Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Ebola Vaccine — Preliminary Report” and “Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe — Preliminary Report”, suggest the safety of the drug as well as the ability of the drug to elicit an immune response.

Agence France-Presse: Ebola vaccine tests show it could ‘neutralize’ virus: Geneva hospital
“An experimental Ebola vaccine tested on humans in Europe and Africa sparks the production of the antibodies needed to neutralize the deadly virus, a Geneva hospital said Wednesday…” (4/1).

The Canadian Press/Huffington Post: Canadian Ebola Vaccine Trial Reveals Promising Results
“The first human trials of a designed-in-Canada Ebola vaccine suggest it is safe and triggers a rapid immune response, two articles published Wednesday reveal…” (Branswell, 4/1).

Modern Healthcare: Ebola vaccine trials show early promise
“…The findings from two studies published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate the experimental vaccine known as rVSV-ZEBOV showed signs of the ability to provoke an immune response in recipients from Phase 1 trials conducted in the U.S., Africa, and Europe between October and December 2014…” (Johnson, 4/1).

National Institutes of Health: Experimental Ebola Vaccine Safe, Prompts Immune Response
“An early-stage clinical trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) found that the vaccine, called VSV-ZEBOV, was safe and elicited robust antibody responses in all 40 of the healthy adults who received it. … A report describing preliminary results of the NIH-WRAIR study appears online today in The New England Journal of Medicine. The VSV-ZEBOV candidate is one of two experimental Ebola vaccines now being tested in the phase 2/3 PREVAIL clinical trial that is enrolling volunteers in Liberia…” (4/1).

NBC News: Experimental Ebola Shot Shows Good Response
“…The vaccine, which has already been shipped to West Africa for more testing, uses an animal virus called vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to carry tiny pieces of the Ebola virus to help train the immune system to recognize it…” (Fox, 4/1).

Reuters: Merck, NewLink Ebola vaccine appears safe, effective in new studies
“…The trials all tested a vaccine called VSV-ZEBOV, which was developed at the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed to NewLink Genetics Corp and then to Merck & Co Inc…” (Begley, 4/1).

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases/EurekAlert: VSV-EBOV Ebola vaccine appears safe and generates immune response
“… ‘These pivotal early studies helped inform dose selection for testing of [the] VSV-EBOV vaccine in a large-scale clinical trial in West Africa,’ noted Lt. Col. Jason Regules at WRAIR, one of two co-lead authors of the paper…” (4/1).

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