On August 13, Canada sent 800 to 1000 doses of an experimental vaccine, VSV-EBOV against the Ebola virus, to the World Health Organization. This antidote made by the Canadian Microbiology Laboratory Winnipeg has been tested and validated on animals. However, it has not yet been tested on men.
“The Canadian Minister of Health said that the WHO has not yet made a decision on the use of this vaccine” according to the French news site Metronews.
However, the virus Ebola, also called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a serious, often fatal disease in humans. And, today, there is no specific treatment to fight against the Ebola virus. Several vaccines and drugs are in trials or being evaluated, but none are available for clinical use.
The American company NewLink Genetics, which markets this vaccine, announced on September 24 that it had obtained authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the US Food and Drug Administration) to proceed with phase 1 trials. clinical (tests on men). As this vaccine obtained extremely satisfactory results on monkeys infected with a lethal dose of the virus, and the Ebola virus epidemic is not contained, the laboratory was able to take advantage of an accelerated examination by the American health authorities and validation of their research.
“We are pleased to have received clearance from the FDA to proceed with clinical trials in humans after rigorous, expedited review. Our goal is to enable our research partners to scientifically conduct human studies and commercialize the vaccine as soon as possible,” said Dr. Charles Link, CEO and Scientific Director of Newlink Genetics, in a press release.
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, released yesterday, the number of people infected with the virus Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has passed the 8,000 threshold. Nearly 2,800 new cases have been recorded in the past three weeks. And of those infected with the virus, 3,857 have died.
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