By Muhammad Amaan
Results may be months away, but efforts are advancing towards enhanced treatment and the world’s first vaccine for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday as deaths and cases rise in the largest ever outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Compared to previous Ebola outbreaks, trials started more quickly this time as protocols had been written before the current one was declared in DR Congo in mid-May, said Vasee Moorthy, acting lead of WHO’s R&D Blueprint, a global platform for research and development collaboration to respond to epidemics and pandemics.
Despite ongoing efforts, there are still no proven safe and efficacious treatment, preventive or vaccination options for the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus, Dr Moorthy told reporters in Geneva.
However, it would likely still be several months before more definite conclusions could be drawn from the ongoing trials, he said.
A vaccine trial in the United Kingdom entered phase one on July 24, with another to begin in Canada in coming days, Dr Moorthy said.
Both trials are being conducted on ferrets and monkeys, after which results would be analysed by WHO before deciding on whether to move to the subsequent phase.
New data has also emerged in animal studies on the licensed vaccine Ervebo, targeting a different Ebola strain, according to WHO.
The UN health agency’s technical advisory group convened last Friday and is expected to publish recommendations later this week.
A clinical trial of a potential post-exposure prophylaxis – or preventative – medicine is underway in Ituri province.
Led by the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research with an international consortium of research and outbreak-response partners, the trial has enrolled over 25 patients to evaluate whether an oral medicine given for 10 days to confirmed high risk contacts could prevent onset of disease.
Since the outbreak was declared, three testing sites have opened in Ituri province and a fourth is set to open later this week where patients can enrol in trials and be monitored in safe conditions to see if the medicines are effective, Dr Moorthy said.
“We are trying to ramp up the enrolment,” he said. “Because they’re a clinical trial, we have to have safe, monitoring of the people that are enrolled in the trial. And that does take time to have more and more teams and more sites enrolling.”
Key points:
- 3,748 cases, including 1,657 deaths and 708 recoveries, as of 1 August, according to WHO
- While Ebola vaccines exist, trials for the first ever Bundibugyo species-specific candidate vaccine began in the UK on 24 July, with a second starting in Canada this week
- Clinical trials of medicine and treatment options are rolling out in Ituri province, the restive epicentre of the current outbreak
- A new 100-bed treatment centre was inaugurated in Bunia, capital of Ituri
