Anthony Fauci MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) www.niaid.nih.gov talked about the Ebola outbreak and how difficult it is to treat and contain. Speaking at the National Press Club on November 19th, he said, “It is equally important in handling the epidemic to not only identify and isolate Ebola cases but to also trace the patient’s contacts to see if the disease has spread.
He continued to say “To suppress the spread of Ebola, it is essential that we educate health professionals, educate the population, and provide the necessary equipment and healthcare systems needed to help deal with epidemics.”
One of the key questions is “When will a vaccine to protect against Ebola be ready?” As Dr. Fauci explained, “We can’t predict when vaccines will be ready because vaccine development is still experimental. However, we have vaccine candidates that have been shown to be effective in animal models but that does not mean it is always effective in humans. However, we are going full steam ahead with our vaccine work and our work to develop therapeutics.”
As announced November 28th, the NIAID/GSK experimental Ebola vaccine was co-developed by NIAID and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center (VRC) www.niaid.nih.gov/about/organization/vrc/pages/default.aspx and at Okairos www.okairos.com a biotechnology company acquired by GSK. The vaccine was tested on 20 healthy adults in a Phase 1 clinical trial and appears to be safe and prompts immune response.
NIAID is supporting other vaccine candidates. Specifically the Institute is assisting Crucell, http://crucell.com a Netherlands-based biotechnology company and Bavarian Nordic www.bavarian-nordic.com in Denmark to develop a multivalent Ebola/Marburg vaccine using a recombinant adenovirus platform. An initial Phase 1 clinical trial of this candidate vaccine is anticipated to begin by late 2015.
NIAID is also funding Profectus Biosciences www.profectusbiosciences.net, a Baltimore-based biotechnology company to develop a candidate vaccine targeting Ebola and Marburg infections. That product is currently in preclinical testing and is not expected to enter Phase 1 testing in the near term.
The Division of Intramural Research www.niaid.gov/about/organization/dir/Pages/default.aspx at NIAID and Thomas Jefferson University www.jefferson.edu in Philadelphia have developed an investigational Ebola vaccine using an established rabies virus vaccine platform. They are currently developing multivalent vaccine candidates against Ebola, Marburg, and rabies viruses for use in humans.