Tuesday, December 2, 2014

More Gloss, On Merck's Ebola Vaccine Candidate: Up Next, Head To Head Efficacy Trials Against GSK's


The $50 million ($30 million in upfronts) purchase from NewLink looks to have been a very astute move. . . even if Merck never reaps gargantuan monetary profit from the effort. There will certainly be great reputational benefits (lasting decades, indeed), to Whitehuse Station, if it is the first to conquer this current and horrific Ebola outbreak. 16,000 already infected; 6,000 already. . . gone. Oh my. [Backgrounder here.]

From the United Kingdom's DailyMail online then -- a bit; but do go read it all:

. . . . The first people vaccinated with an experimental Ebola shot being developed by Merck and NewLink have had no serious side effects so far, but a few experienced mild fever, Swiss researchers said on Tuesday. . . . [rVSV-ZEBOV] is undergoing initial human safety tests at the University Hospitals of Geneva. . . .

Since 10 November, 34 volunteers have been vaccinated with the shot, known as rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, at the request of the World Health Organization (WHO). Trials have also begun in the United States, Canada, Germany and Gabon, and similar trials should start soon in Kenya. . . .


We will keep close tabs on this for the readership. Count on that.

2 comments:

Birdman said...

Great news indeed. If one reads between the lines one might expect a higher fever rate (and duration) than what was observed for the ChAd3-EBOL vaccine....Reactogenicity predicts immunogenicity? I believe yes.

Birdman said...

Considering that many non-profits/US Government agencies are and will pay for the expensive clinical trials, process development and manufacturing of clinical trial doses this leaves relatively "minor" funding requirements from Pharma.

This endeavor will not result in a financial loss for the major players and will, as you have stated, get them major "brownie points".