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 The decision to donate the vaccine came after the WHO said on
Tuesday that it was ethical to offer untested drugs to people
infected by the virus.
The Canadian government will donate between 800 to 1,000 doses of
the vaccine, with the final number given dependent on how much
Canada holds back for research and clinical trials. The government
will also keep a small supply in case it is needed domestically.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose said she offered the vaccine to Dr.
Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO.
The U.S. is also working on a vaccine and the WHO and governments
involved were discussing possible use in Africa, Dr. Greg Taylor,
deputy chief public health officer of the Public Health Agency of
Canada told Reuters in an interview ahead of the Canadian
announcement.
Canada only has about 1,500 animal doses of the vaccine, which it
invented a few years ago, and would need four to six months to make
a large quantity, he said. The government's vaccine is separate from
the treatment being developed by Canada's Tekmira Pharmaceuticals
Corp.
"We see this as a global resource, something we need to put on the
global table to say ... how can we make best use of this asset?
"We're looking to do that as fast as we can,” Taylor said, speaking
from Ottawa.
The Ebola outbreak is the world's largest and deadliest. So far,
1,013 people have died, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone.
The Canadian vaccine, which the agency licensed for
commercialization to U.S. firm BioProtection Systems, a unit of
Newlink Genetics, has proven effective in animals but has never been
tested in humans, Taylor said.
Last week, Iowa-based NewLink said that BioProtection had a contract
with the U.S. Department of Defense for studies to bring the
Canadian Ebola vaccine closer to human testing.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how we can make a contribution in
the fight against this disease and get our vaccine into the clinic,”
Brian Wiley, NewLink vice-president of business development, told
Reuters on Tuesday. “A large amount of work still needs to be done,
but when there is a dire need the powers that be move at a quicker
pace."
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Canada's Taylor did not specify which of several U.S. vaccines in
development he was referring to that may be used in Africa along
with the Canadian vaccine.
Profectus BioSciences of Tarrytown, New York, has tested its Ebola
vaccine in monkeys with good results, its chief science officer John
Eldridge said on Tuesday.
Still, deciding whether to use an experimental drug on humans is
"very difficult," Taylor said.
"You really don't know how safe it is, you don’t know what the side
effects are going to be. But in this extraordinary circumstance in
Africa right now, we’re trying to do everything we can to assist."
The first doses in Africa would likely be available to health care
workers, Taylor said.
The Public Health Agency of Canada was also involved in the
development of ZMapp, an experimental Ebola treatment licensed by
U.S. firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical that has been used to treat two
infected American aid workers. Liberia said on Tuesday it will get
Mapp's drug to treat two doctors.
(Additional reporting by Sharon Begley in New York; Editing by Amran
Abocar, Bernard Orr)
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