A new vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has been developed in the UK and human trials could commence on 60 healthy British volunteers as early as next month.
If the vaccine performs as well in humans as it already has in monkeys, it will be extended to 80 volunteers in Gambia and in Mali.
Because of the Ebola scourge in West Africa the trial programme is being fast-tracked – subject to ethical approval – with the intention of using the vaccine in people at high risk in West Africa early next year.
Currently there is no vaccine to prevent the disease and no proven treatment, there is however an experimental drug, ZMapp which has only been used on a handful of human sufferers of the disease.
The new vaccine contains a single ebola virus protein from the strain sweeping West Africa – anyone inoculated with it cannot develop the disease itself.
The trial will be led by Professor Adrian Hill, of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. The vaccine is being co-developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.