Human trial of Ebola vaccine shows promising results

The first human trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine has shown promising results, a research published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has said.

A report on the trials of an experimental vaccine produced by British pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), suggested that it is safe and may help the immune system to combat the Ebola virus.

According to BBC, 20 volunteers were immunised in the United States, with all of them producing antibodies while suffering no major side-effects.

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) described the results as “promising”.

“On safety and on the ability to produce an appropriate immune response, we can call this trial an unqualified success, even though it was an early phase one trial,” Anthony Fauci, a director at NIH, said .

The volunteers for the trial were divided into two groups, receiving either a low or high dose, with results showing a corresponding antibody response, which was stronger among those receiving the higher dose.

The investigators found that seven of the high dose and two of the lose dose volunteers produced T-cell immune responses, which may be important in protection against Ebola virus.

The vaccine, which was made from genetically engineered strain of the deadly virus, has shown no major side effects since the trial began.

Noting that other trials were underway, Fauci said it would require large phase two/three trial in West Africa to show whether the vaccine works and is really safe.

GSK said it could produce one million doses a month by the end of 2015.