GSK to begin testing Ebola vaccine on humans

Glaxosmithkline has been given permission to begin testing its Ebola virus vaccine on humans next week.The drugs giant and its partner on the experimental treatment, the US National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Centre, have been granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration to tested the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in humans, according to Bloomberg.Michael Kurilla, director of the Office of Biodefence, Research Resources and Translational Research in the US, said he expected researchers would require a month to assess the effect of the vaccine on humans.GSK's vaccine has so far produced promising results in animal studies involving primates, but the health authorities including the World Health Organisation have acknowledged that there is not enough time for such vaccines to undergo the standard clinical trial process over several years.Kurilla said health authorities were debating whether to give the vaccine to people in west Africa who may be at risk of catching the deadly virus, for which there is no proven cure or vaccine to prevent infection.The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone so far, but patients have successfully be treated by experimental treatments in America.Even with a successful fast-track testing process, the new vaccine will not be ready for widespread deployment before 2015.OH