* Work focuses on vaccines trials and manufacturing
* Also new research into rapid diagnostic tests
* EU ship sailing with ambulances, labs, other equipment (Adds details on shipment, more on diagnostic tests)
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The Europe Union and drugmakerspledged on Thursday to invest 280 million euros ($350 million)in Ebola research, with the lion's share going to the testingand manufacture of potential vaccines.
The funding will go to projects backed by the InnovativeMedicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private scheme jointly paidfor by the European Commission and the pharmaceuticals industry.
Reuters reported on Oct. 22 that an IMI investment of around200 million euros was pending. Since then, further discussionshave been held about the resources needed for various projectsand the amount has been increased.
The final document setting out the plans commits theEuropean Commission to giving as much as 140 million euros, withcompanies providing an equivalent amount in staff time, goodsand services.
"The EU is determined to help find a solution to Ebola. Weare putting our money where our mouth is and boosting EUresearch on Ebola with an additional 280 million euros," saidCarlos Moedas, European Commissioner for research.
The move shows how momentum is building to get medicalintervention, especially vaccines, to West Africa as soon aspossible, to try to control the world's worst Ebola outbreak,which has killed nearly 5,000 people, according to officialdata. Many experts believe the true death toll is a lot higher.
The EU is also beginning its biggest single operation oftransporting supplies to West Africa, with a Dutch ship sailingon Thursday from the Netherlands, loaded with ambulances, mobilehospitals, laboratories and other equipment provided by nineEuropean countries.
FIVE PRIORITY PROJECTS
With a total budget of 3.3 billion euros for the period 2014to 2024, Europe's IMI scheme is the world's biggestpublic-private partnership in life sciences.
It began in 2008 and now has 46 ongoing projects, some ofwhich are focused on specific health issues such as Alzheimer'sdisease, cancer and obesity. Others involve work on broaderchallenges in drug development.
In the case of Ebola, five urgent projects have beenidentified involving the three stages of vaccine clinicaltrials; vaccine manufacturing; vaccine transport and storage;regimens for vaccination deployment; and rapid diagnostic tests.
The aim is to head off some of the technical obstacles that public health officials, governments and drugmakers face as theytry to develop the world's first Ebola vaccines in record time.
The challenges include finding enough vaccine manufacturingand filling capacity, getting accelerated clinical trialresults, winning rapid regulatory approvals and building asupply chain in Africa for products that must be stored atultra-low temperatures.
For diagnostics, the goal is to develop a simple test forEbola infection that can generate results within three hours andpreferably in less than 30 minutes.
Two leading vaccine candidates from GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink Genetics are already in human safetytrials. Another five should begin testing in the first quarterof next year. One from Johnson & Johnson will starttrials in January.
The three leading companies hope to make millions of dosesover the course of 2015. (Editing by Kate Kelland, Larry King)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)