21 Feb EBOLA VACCINE INCHES TOWARD HUMAN CLINICAL TRIALS
A whole-virus vaccine to confront Ebola, the rare but often fatal hemorrhagic disease that periodically erupts in sub-Saharan Africa, may soon be one step closer to the clinic.
With the help of experts at Waisman Biomanufacturing, within the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center, UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka will lead a $3 million effort to produce as many as 1,000 doses of an experimental vaccine that has already been proven to work safely in monkeys.
“The goal is to produce a safe and effective vaccine against Ebola virus for people,” says Kawaoka, a world expert on Ebola and influenza. The vaccine is planned for use in a phase 1 clinical trial in Japan and is the only whole-virus Ebola vaccine candidate under development.