Ebola Vaccine Trial To Hold In Nigeria

monjola sotubo

September 1, 2014 12:22 PM

The United States has said that it might conduct a trial of the new vaccine in Nigeria

An Ebola vaccine developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in conjunction with the US National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline might be tested in Nigeria, the US has said.

The proposed trial test is scheduled to hold in mid-September and will also be conducted in The Gambia and Mali.

A statement released to that effect reads:

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has initiated discussions with Ministry of Health officials in Nigeria about the prospects for conducting a Phase 1 safety study of the vaccine among healthy adults in that country.

The pace of human safety testing for experimental Ebola vaccines has been expedited in response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.

The early-stage trial will begin initial human testing of a vaccine co-developed by NIAID and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and will evaluate the experimental vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune system response in healthy adults. Testing will take place at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland,”

The vaccine will initially be given to 3 healthy people and if there are no adverse side effects, it will then be given to another small group of volunteers.

The Nigerian Ministry of Health has not issued an official confirmation regarding the proposed trials.

monjola sotubo