Canadian-made Ebola vaccine begins human clinical trials

Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 12:14 PM - Human clinical trials for the Canadian-made Ebola vaccine began on Monday.

The vaccine, which has shown a success rate of 100 per cent in animals, is moving at unprecedented speed according to Health Minister Rona Ambrose.

More than 4000 people have died due to the virus, which the World Health Organisation has called the "most severe acute health emergency in modern times."

The human clinical trial began in Maryland and aims to determine the safety and right dosage needed to fight the virus. The vaccine was developed at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory. While the Canadian government owns the intellectual property, it has licensed the rights to a small American company called NewLink Genetics.

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The results from the first phase of human clinical trials are not expected to be ready until December. If the results are positive, the next stage would involve testing the vaccine in a larger human sample—which could include the health workers directly handling Ebola cases in Africa.

Some critics are unhappy that the vaccine has been sitting in a lab in Winnipeg all this time instead of being dispensed in West Africa. A website affiliated to the journal Science suggested that the delay could be caused by NewLink Genetics worried about losing control of the development of the vaccine. Many in the scientific community were outraged by what they called "dragging their feet" while people were dying.

Canada has pledged 1,000 doses of the vaccine to the World Health Organization.

Other clinical trials being considered are in Canada, Europe and Africa.