Johnson & Johnson Says First Human Trials of New Ebola Vaccine Underway

MOSCOW, January 6 (Sputnik) — Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday the start of the first phase of an in-human clinical trials for a preventive Ebola vaccine, which will be tested on 72 healthy adult volunteers in the United Kingdom.

“Recruitment in the trial is underway, and the first volunteers have received their initial vaccine dose. Enrollment is expected to be completed by the end of January,” the company said about the vaccine developed by its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies in a statement posted online.

According to the statement, the first phase aims to confirm the safety of the vaccine on humans. The volunteers will be given booster doses meant to enhance the body's immune system over time. Later in January, more trials are expected in the United States and Africa.

Janssen, in partnership with the Bavarian Nordic biotechnology company, has also produced 400,000 dosage regimens of the vaccine for large-scale clinical trials in April 2015, with a total of 2 million regimens expected through 2015 and the ability to scale up to 5 million if necessary, the statement said.

“As a leader in the field of global health, we have a responsibility to act swiftly as Ebola continues to cause suffering among patients, families and health care workers in West Africa,” Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky was quoted as saying in the statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that a minimum of 100,000 doses of the vaccine would be required for front-line workers in the three Ebola-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. To cover a large-scale adult vaccination in the three countries, 12 million doses would be needed.

Prior to the in-human trials, the Ebola vaccine was reported to show full protection when tested on monkeys.

Meanwhile, a clinical trial of another Ebola vaccine was halted in Switzerland last month after volunteers complained of pains in their joints.

According to the latest WHO data, the virus has killed about 8,000 people in the three countries, out of the almost 21,000 probable, suspected and confirmed cases reported.