A public-private partnership will pay Merck & Co. $ 5 million to store 300,000 Ebola vaccine doses that seemed to work in last year Guinea's trial. Science Insider learned that GAVI, an organization based in Geneva Switzerland, which helps mainly poor countries vaccinate their children, plans to announce the deal Wednesday morning at the Davos World Economic Forum , Swiss.
In addition to making the vaccine available as of May 2016 to respond to emergencies, GAVI also wants his money to help the pharmaceutical company to continue developing the vaccine and submit it to licenses with regulatory bodies by the end of 2017. "I think it's good to reward companies to invest in this area, even if the amount is somewhat symbolic, and to get a commitment that they are going to move things" said said Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director General at the World health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.
Before the start of the current outbreak in West Africa Ebola, the virus caused fewer than two dozen homes in nearly 4 decades, sickening about 2,400 people. It's Ebola an unattractive target for vaccinemakers, especially because the disease occurs only in poor countries in Africa. "as given that there is a market failure, we wanted to ensure that this vaccine is taken all the way, "said Seth Berkley, head of GAVI Science Insider . "We also wanted to ensure that there is a vaccine available in the interim period before there is a licensed product."
storage of vaccine is essential, said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, the London Research charity which co-funded the vaccine trial in Guinea. "Epidemics of Ebola are inevitable," wrote in an email Farrar, noting that there is a "reservoir" animal virus that will keep reintroducing to humans. But GAVI's contribution is particularly important in light of "the horror of the Ebola outbreak," Farrar wrote, "the development of this vaccine is a very positive result."
Originally developed by the Canada Public Health Agency, the vaccine contains a gene encoding the protein of Ebola virus surface stitched into a pathogen for cattle safe, the virus vesicular stomatitis (VSV). Merck licensed the vaccine at the height of the epidemic of Ebola in West Africa in 2014, and moved through clinical trials faster than any other vaccine in history. A trial underway in Guinea with the VSV vaccine found that it protected so that participants study the control arm was discontinued after an interim analysis.
Before Merck seeks to license the vaccine, he wants to collect more data to the regulatory authorities. In the meantime, countries may want to use the vaccine to control an epidemic. Hours after the WHO announced the end of the Ebola outbreak last week, Sierra Leone reported one new death from the disease. Contacts of the 22-year-old woman at four locations in Sierra Leone will be offered the vaccine, Kieny said. But as long as the vaccine has not been authorized, it can not be used as an experimental vaccine in a clinical trial, which is cumbersome. "You can not bring people and offer them the shot," Kieny said. "You must inform every single participant of the possible risks, and obtain their informed consent."
in Sierra Leone doctors without borders (MSF) will administer the vaccine in the Guinea current trial, which was extended to Sierra Leone. in his "ring" unusual design, only people who have had contact with confirmed cases Ebola are vaccinated. But future outbreaks may occur in countries where there is no ongoing trial, meaning the experimental product could not be used until the country go through the additional steps design a study to obtain ethical approval, and work through complex liability issues. "There is an absolute need for a licensed vaccine," said Kieney. She said the vaccine receives approval, WHO will work with MSF to carry out vaccination in emergency ring in all African countries affected by a new outbreak of Ebola.
Berkley says GAVI move could also benefit companies that have other candidates in developing vaccines but has no data on the efficacy of a trial which took place during an outbreak . "They will show data from animal experiments and to link it with efficacy data in humans," said Berkley. "It is important for them also to obtain data for this vaccine before regulatory agencies as soon as possible."
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