Experimental Ebola vaccine will be tested on people NEXT MONTH as U.S. pushes clinical trial of possible life-saving drug

The U.S government will begin testing an experimental ebola vaccine on humans as early as next month, it has been reported. The drug, which is currently being developed, has seen positive results in clinical trials when used to treat primates.
It has prompted the U.S. government to move towards testing the possible life-saving vaccine on people for the first time, USA Today said.

The National Institutes of Health’s infectious disease unit has been working with the Food and Drug Administration to put the vaccine through trials as quickly as possible, according to the report.

The latest Ebola outbreak sweeping through West Africa is the worst on record since the disease was discovered in Zaire in 1976. Experts say a vaccine to prevent the deadly Ebola virus is between two to six years away from being available to use.

The director of the infectious disease unit, Anthony Fauci, told the paper results could be available early next year. It comes as U.S. authorities recommended against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Two American aid workers, diagnosed with the vicious disease – Dr Kent Brantly, 33, and Nancy Writebol, 59, are due to be flown back to the U.S. on a special plane equipped with infection-control pods.
At least one of the pair will be treated at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, the authorities have confirmed.

Despite moves to begin testing potential vaccines on humans, experts predict the first commerically-available preventative jab, sanctioned for use on the general population, is likely to take two to six years.
A lack of funding could hamper vital clinical trials, researchers have said.

At least four new drugs are in the developmental stage in labs across the U.S. with trials involving primates yielding positive results.

- Culled from Primechronicle.com