OMM Redaksiyası
A candidate vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus has entered Phase Ib clinical trials in Uganda, an Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said Thursday.
Wessam Mankoula, who leads the continental incident management support team for the Ebola response, said the trials of the “ChAdOx1” vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, began on Oct. 6. Phase Ia trials started in Britain in July.
A second candidate, developed by “Moderna”, recently received ethical approval for Phase Ib trials in Uganda, Mankoula said. Its Phase Ia trials began in Canada in August.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 8,728 confirmed Ebola cases, including 4,205 deaths, since the outbreak was declared in May, according to the latest Health Ministry update.
The outbreak has affected seven provinces: Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Bas-Uele, Tshopo and South-Ubangi. Kenya reported its first imported case this week, involving a patient who died after travelling from Congo.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, for which no vaccine or treatment has been approved.
Congo was allocated 70,000 doses of “Ervebo” from the global Ebola virus disease vaccine stockpile in August. The vaccine is approved for use against the Zaire Ebola virus.
More than 7,700 healthcare workers and other frontline personnel have been vaccinated so far, Mankoula said.
In August, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced a $16.5 million partnership with African biopharmaceutical company Minapharm Group to develop a Bundibugyo vaccine candidate.
