The study is the first of several Phase 1 clinical trials that will examine the investigational NIAID/GSK Ebola vaccine and an experimental Ebola vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed to NewLink Genetics Corp, according to statement from the National Institutes of Health.

 

The trials are conducted in healthy adults with the goal of determining if the vaccine is safe and induces an adequate immune response.

 

Discussions are also underway with Nigerian officials about conducting a similar study of healthy adults in that country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is involved in those talks.

 

The pace of human safety testing for experimental Ebola vaccines has been expedited in response to the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1,400 suspected and confirmed deaths from Ebola infection have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone since the outbreak was first reported in March 2014.