Oxford University launches test on humans for J&J Ebola vaccine
OXFORD University researchers are looking for 72 volunteers aged 18-50 to take part in the first trials on humans of a vaccination for the deadly Ebola virus.
The trials, backed by US pharma giant Johnson & Johnson, are being led by Dr Matthew Snape of the university’s paediatrics department. Initial tests on monkeys showed the vaccine, developed by J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, protected against Ebola, which has killed thousands of people in West Africa.
Dr Snape told Morning Wire: “We aim to immunise all participants within a month, and the main aim is to understand the safety profile of the vaccines.”
Volunteers will receive £540 if they remain in the study for the entire two- to three-month period, as well £15 for travel expenses and £20 for time spent per visit to the university and £20 per blood donation. The trial involves volunteers receiving an additional booster dose one or two months after the initial injection.
A spokesperson for J & J told Morning Wire: “What this trial hopes to achieve is to find out how much time is needed between injections. If all goes well, we will conduct much larger trials in the US and Africa. We have already made 400,000 doses – that’s 800,000 injections.”
It hopes to have the vaccine available for use in West Africa by the middle of 2015.