First results from Ebola vaccine trial show acceptable safety profile

o GSK/NIH Ebola vaccine is 'well tolerated' and generates an immune response. o Larger trials in West Africa are needed to tell whether immune responses are large enough to protect against Ebola infection and disease - o Results from Oxford University and other safety trials will inform plans for larger trials The first results from a trial of a candidate Ebola vaccine at Oxford University suggest the vaccine has an acceptable safety profile at the doses tested, and is able to generate an immune response. 'The vaccine was well tolerated. Its safety profile is pretty much as we had hoped,' said Professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, who led the trial. The researchers say these results suggest the vaccine is suitable for further testing in West Africa during the current outbreak, with the aim of determining whether the vaccine offers protection against Ebola. The candidate Ebola vaccine is being co-developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and GSK against the Zaire species of Ebola, which is the one circulating in West Africa. It uses a single Ebola virus gene in a chimpanzee adenovirus to generate an immune response.