US Pharm. 2015;40(4):HS-24.
According to results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase I trial published in The Lancet, an Ebola vaccine based on the 2014 virus strain looks promising.
To date, all Ebola virus vaccines tested have been based on the strain that occurred in the Zaire outbreak in the mid-1970s. Additional long-term testing is required to determine whether the new vaccine protects against the Ebola virus; the current results suggest that it is safe and prompts an immune response in recipients.
A team of researchers, led by Professor Fengcai Zhu from the Jiangsu provincial center for disease prevention and control in China, tested the safety and immunogenicity of a novel Ebola vaccine based on the 2014 Zaire Guinea Ebola strain and delivered by a viruslike structure known as a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vaccine.
One hundred and twenty healthy Chinese adults were randomly assigned in equal numbers to receive placebo, a low dose of the vaccine, or a high dose of it. After nearly 1 month following vaccination, 38 out of 40 participants in the low-dose group and all 40 in the high-dose group had a positive immune response to the vaccine. Participants in the high-dose group produced higher quantities of antibodies than those in the low-dose group.
