Ebola expert volunteers to trial potential life-saving drug

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/05/british-ebola-expert-tests-experimental-vaccine

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An Ebola expert has volunteered to be vaccinated against the disease to help bring an experimental new drug to the frontline in Africa.

Prof Miles Carroll, head of research microbiology services at Public Health England, is working in Guinea where the life-saving capabilities of the VSV-EBOV vaccine are about to be tested.

The phase three trial, the final step before a drug is made generally available, will begin on Saturday, the World Health Organisation has announced.

Carroll said: “This is a significant milestone and a real step forward in development of the first Ebola vaccine, and I’m delighted to have been part of the European team supporting this work here in Guinea.

“I have also volunteered to be vaccinated in the trial, to help show the local population the vaccine is safe, and with the help and expertise of my Public Health England colleagues in the UK we have constructed a lab in Guinea to assist with processing blood samples from the trial.”

The vaccine, developed by the public health agency of Canada, will be distributed in Basse Guinee, the region with the highest number of Ebola cases in the country.

A ring vaccination strategy will be adopted, based on the approach used to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s.

This involves identifying a newly diagnosed Ebola case, known as the “index case”, and tracing all of his or her contacts. They are then vaccinated if they agree.

The WHO director general, Dr Margaret Chan, said: “We have worked hard to reach this point. There has been massive mobilisation on the part of the affected countries and all partners to accelerate the development and availability of proven interventions. If a vaccine is found effective, it will be the first preventive tool against Ebola in history.”

The assistant director general, Marie-Paule Kieny, who leads Ebola research and development at the WHO, said: “The Ebola epidemic shows signs of receding but we cannot let down our guard until we reach zero cases.

“An effective vaccine to control current flare-ups could be the game-changer to finally end this epidemic and an insurance policy for any future ones.”

Since September 2014, the two most advanced Ebola vaccines have been evaluated in about 15 countries in Africa, Europe and North America.

The VSV-EBOV vaccine was selected for the Guinea trial based on criteria including safety, immune responses, levels of neutralising antibodies and supply availability.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see large-scale efficacy trials of this promising Ebola vaccine getting under way in Guinea. Testing investigational medicines during an epidemic is incredibly challenging, but this approach gives us the best possible chance of finding a safe and effective vaccine in time to save lives during the current epidemic, and to help us prepare for future outbreaks.

“Just getting to this point is a phenomenal achievement and one that would not have been possible without the hard work and unprecedented global collaboration between public and private entities, governments and the local communities in the three affected regions.”

Almost 24,000 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries most affected by the outbreak. Of these, 9,807 have died, according to the latest figures.