NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Two Ebola vaccines, one developed by the NIH and GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and the other by Merck ($MRK) and NewLink ($NLNK), have sailed through Liberian trials and, based on the results, may now advance to Phase III trials.

The single-shot vaccines appeared to be safe based on a double-blind, Phase II trial, sponsored by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), with more than 600 participants. This was the first stage of the Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia (PREVAIL) Phase II/III clinical trial.

“We are grateful to the Liberian people who volunteered for this important clinical trial and encouraged by the study results seen with the two investigational Ebola vaccine candidates,” NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement. “Now we must move forward to adapt and expand the study so that ultimately we can determine whether these experimental vaccines can protect against Ebola virus disease and therefore be used in future Ebola outbreaks.”