\n<\/p>\n
There is no vaccine or treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, but this week three vaccine developers were awarded $60m (\u00a345m) in emergency funding as the race to halt the outbreak ramps up.<\/p>\n
Security issues in the affected region of the DRC, where conflict has displaced tens of thousands, have made it challenging to set up trials to test drugs. Militias operate in the area and some Ebola treatment centres have been attacked.<\/p>\n
But researchers said they were ready to begin as soon as conditions allowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day counts in the race against this deadly disease,\u201d said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which announced the funding on Monday.<\/p>\n
The vaccines are just part of the work scientists across the globe are undertaking; treatments and preventative measures are also in development. Here are some of the contenders:<\/p>\n
Considered the \u201cmost promising candidate vaccine\u201d by the WHO, the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) uses the same technology as an existing Ebola vaccine, Ervebo. Ervebo targets the more common Zaire strain of the virus.<\/p>\n
The WHO expects it to take seven to nine months before doses of the rVSV Bundibugyo vaccine are ready for clinical trials. Mark Feinberg, IAVI\u2019s president, said they were working to accelerate the timeline as much as possible.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Security issues have hampered the response to Ebola, making it hard to set up drug trials and leading to the destruction of clinics.<\/span> Photograph: Michel Lunanga\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The world should have been more prepared, Feinberg said. While there were suggestions after the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in west Africa that vaccines should be prepared, tested and stockpiled against viruses of this kind, they did not result in comprehensive action.<\/p>\n \u201cThe technologies to make an efficacious Bundibugyo vaccine are available to us, but we need to do the work to demonstrate that they do work,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we hopefully will do better in the future as a global health community.\u201d<\/p>\n The ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo vaccine, being developed by Oxford University with the Serum Institute of India, could be available faster than IAVI\u2019s candidate, with trials within two or three months.<\/p>\n WHO experts want to see more data from tests in animals to confirm its suitability.<\/p>\n It uses the same technology as the Oxford\/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab. Prof Teresa Lambe of the Oxford Vaccine Group and Pandemic Sciences Institute, said she hoped it would ultimately not be needed, but the team was moving quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have started the animal studies and we are going to be progressing with partners around the world, both in the UK and the US, to get more animal studies initiated as rapidly as we can,\u201d she told a press briefing. The Serum Institute said it could make as many doses as needed.<\/p>\n Moderna\u2019s vaccine did not appear on the WHO\u2019s candidate list \u2013 the company said it was still assessing its response when the WHO\u2019s expert panel met to make recommendations.<\/p>\n The jab would use mRNA technology \u2013 a prominent vaccine platform during Covid \u2013 and the company hopes it could be ready for trials within months.<\/p>\n CEPI has committed up to $50m to support preclinical development and early clinical testing of Moderna\u2019s vaccine.<\/p>\n St\u00e9phane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, said: \u201cWe will move with urgency and scientific rigour to support the response and help bring a potential vaccine closer to the communities that need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n Three medicines already exist that scientists believe show promise as potential Bundibugyo treatments: MBP134 and Maftivimab, monoclonal antibodies that mimic the effects of the immune system, and the antiviral remdesivir.<\/p>\n <\/span>The antiviral drug remdesivir is being looked at as a potential treatment for Ebola.<\/span> Photograph: Ulrich Perrey\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Amanda Rojek, associate professor of health emergencies at the UK\u2019s Pandemic Sciences Institute will be working on the Partners trial, designed to find the most effective treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re effectively close to ready to go,\u201d Rojek said. The drugs exist, and investigators are seeking regulatory approval from authorities in the DRC and Uganda.<\/p>\n A key hurdle is \u201cmaking sure that we can operationalise safely\u201d, she said. \u201cWe will implement the trial at a point at which patients are receiving optimised supportive care and we can manage the safety of our teams in a challenging environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Properly assessing that drugs are safe and effective is vital, she stressed. \u201cIt is important in any patients that we manage in our clinical practice all around the world that we have an evidence basis for the care.\u201d<\/p>\n For the first time in an Ebola outbreak, doctors will test a prevention drug \u2013 giving it to contacts of cases to see if it stops them developing the disease.<\/p>\n A pill of the antiviral drug obdeldesivir provided up to 100% protection in monkeys against two other strains of Ebola when given daily for 10 days, within 24 hours.<\/p>\n Prof Christophe Fraser of the UK\u2019s Oxford University will be working on the trial. He said results will depend not only on the drugs\u2019 effectiveness, but also on teams on the ground being able to identify the right people to take part.<\/p>\n \u201cA trial goes quicker if the intervention is very effective. If it is less effective, then it takes longer,\u201d he said. It also depends on the size of the outbreak and \u201cthe ability to follow up cases and find their contacts. At the moment, that\u2019s incredibly operationally challenging [\u2026] because of the security situation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is no vaccine or treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, but this week three vaccine developers were awarded $60m (\u00a345m) in emergency funding as the race to halt the outbreak ramps up. Security issues in the affected region of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[13461,16856,918,24543,1123,3483,2475,6767,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-50049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-combat","9":"tag-developed","10":"tag-development","11":"tag-ebola","12":"tag-global","13":"tag-long","14":"tag-race","15":"tag-treatments","16":"tag-vaccines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Oxford vaccine<\/h2>\n
The Moderna vaccine<\/h2>\n
Three potential treatments<\/h2>\n
The prevention drug<\/h2>\n