Vaccines

HUFFINGTON POST  by Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director of UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Group, Bureau of Policy and Programme Support      Aug. 10, 2015                                                                 

While scientists still need to figure out how long the protective effect of the vaccine lasts, and how effective it will be among the general population and with different strains of the virus, without a doubt this is an important tool for the protection of health and community workers and possibly the wider community. This will certainly help in the on-going efforts to achieve the target of zero new Ebola cases and in overall recovery efforts.

Analysis
WIRED.COM by Katie M. Palmer                                                            Aug. 4, 2015

Last week, the medical journal the Lancet published preliminary results on the efficacy of an Ebola vaccine in Guinea, and everybody got really excited—especially about one particular figure. The vaccine, the results suggested, was 100 percent effective at protecting against Ebola, a thrilling prospect in the face of an epidemic that has killed more than 11,000 people. ...

But that number probably means less than you think it does. It’s based on incomplete data, so it doesn’t have the statistical clout it should. And it never will. Based on the vaccine’s early success, the trial’s runners decided that all participants in the study should get it immediately after exposure. That’s a perfectly reasonable, humane reaction, but it also means that the researchers will never be able to collect better data on the vaccine’s efficacy, which is what regulators look for when they’re deciding to approve a drug. In other words, the vaccine’s early success could make it harder for people to get it down the line.

CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE POLICY AND RESEARCH by Lisa Schnirring     July 20, 2015

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals  announced that it has suspended development of TKM-Ebola, a drug cocktail that showed disappointing human trial results in West Africa, as a convalescent plasma trial at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility in Guinea proceeded with no ill effects in patients so far...

In suspending TKM-Ebola development, the company said that a joint reevaluation of its contract with the US Department of Defense is under way.

In another development, MSF said a convalescent serum trial at its facility in Nongo, Guinea, has enrolled 101 people over the last few months, with no ill effects reported so far, according to a Jul 17 update on the outbreak. Patients at the Nongo treatment unit have the option to receive plasma donated by Ebola survivors....

Meanwhile, detailed testing at a Swiss hospital on a 43-year-old doctor infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone found that viral decay occurred in two phases, once starting 72 hours after symptom onset before any antiviral interventions, with acceleration in viral load decay after ZMAb infusion and oral favipiravir treatments began..

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CANADIAN PRESS  by  Helen Branswell                       June 19, 2015

TORONTO -- A Canadian company that had been developing an Ebola drug says a clinical trial of the experimental product has been stopped.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals says the trial was halted because it seemed clear that continuing was not likely to show that the drug works.

The drug is called TKM-Ebola. It was being tested with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

Read complete story.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/trial-of-canadian-ebola-drug-stopped-no-overall-benefit-shown-1.2430501