LONDON (Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Friday that the first batch of its candidate Ebola vaccine is being shipped to West Africa, and will be used in the first large-scale efficacy trial of potential vaccines in Liberia in the coming weeks.
The doses will now be used in a phase III trial led by the US National Institutes of Health. The trial is expected to involve up to 30,000 people, of which a third will receive Glaxo's candidate vaccine.
The candidate vaccine is currently in five small phase I clinical trials in the UK, US, Switzerland and Mali. Results from the first of the phase I studies were published last November, and results from the remaining studies will be published in the coming months, Glaxo said.
"Shipping the vaccine today is a major achievement and shows that we remain on track with the accelerated development of our candidate Ebola vaccine," said Chairman of Glaxo's Global Vaccines arm, Moncef Slaoui, in a statement.
"It is important to remember that this vaccine is still in development and any potential future use in mass vaccination campaigns will depend on whether the World Health Organization, regulators and other stakeholders are satisfied that the vaccine candidate provides protection against Ebola without causing significant side effects and how quickly large quantities of vaccine can be made," Slaoui added.
Shares in GlaxoSmithKline are trading down 0.03% at 1,487.50 pence Friday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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