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Merck, NewLink Ebola vaccine appears safe, effective in new studies

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REUTERS by Sharon Bagley                                                                      April 1, 2015

Early-stage trials of an experimental Ebola vaccine, two in the United States and four in Africa and Europe, have found that it appears to be safe and triggered robust production of Ebola-fighting antibodies, scientists reported on Wednesday.

Since trials cannot ethically expose volunteers to Ebola, the production of antibodies is a proxy for whether vaccines could prevent or even treat the disease.

The trials all tested a vaccine called VSV-ZEBOV, which was developed at the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed to NewLink Genetics Corp and then to Merck & Co Inc. It consists of a cattle virus called rVSV that has been engineered to carry Ebola genes, which produce proteins meant to trigger production of anti-Ebola antibodies.

According to separate teams of scientists, that is what happened, two papers in the New England Journal of Medicine reported.

Read complete story.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/01/us-health-ebola-vaccine-idUSKBN0MS5DN20150401

Read NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE  papers

Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe — Preliminary Report http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1502924?query=featured_home
and

 A Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Ebola Vaccine — Preliminary Report

 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1414216?query=featured_home

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