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 Gavi said the agreement would help the U.S. drugmaker take the
experimental Ebola vaccine through late-stage clinical trials to
licensing and then through pre-qualification by the World Health
Organization (WHO).
If approved, Merck's so-called VSV-ZEBOV live attenuated Ebola Zaire
vaccine would become one of the world's first licensed Ebola shots
and Gavi would be able to start buying it to create a stockpile for
future outbreaks, it said in a statement issued at the World
Economic Forum in Davos.
A vast epidemic of Ebola which swept through three countries in West
Africa last year killed more than 11,300 people and infected more
than 28,600.
"The suffering caused by the Ebola crisis was a wake-up call to many
in the global health community," said Gavi's chief executive Seth
Berkley.
"New threats require smart solutions and our innovative financing
agreement with Merck will ensure that we are ahead of the curve for
future Ebola outbreaks."
The deal was agreed on the understanding that the vaccine will be
submitted for a license by the end of 2017.
Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Berkley said the advance commitment
should give a positive signal to drugmakers developing products that
may not have an immediate market
"It's critical that we give confidence to companies that when they
make this type of effort, there is somebody to buy it," he said.
As part of the agreement, Merck will ensure that 300,000 doses of
the vaccine are available from May 2016 to be used in expanded use
clinical trials as well as for emergency use as needed while
development work on the shot continues.
Until the West Africa Ebola epidemic, which swiftly became the
largest in history, previous outbreaks of the disease have infected
far smaller numbers, usually fewer than 1,000 people.
Initial results from a clinical trial in Guinea of the vaccine,
which tested it on some 4,000 people who had been in close contact
with a confirmed Ebola case, showed complete protection after 10
days.
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Merck says it has already submitted an application through WHO's
Emergency Use Assessment and Listing (EUAL) procedure which, if
approved, would allow for the vaccine to be used if there is another
Ebola emergency before it is licensed.
Jeremy Farrar, director of Britain's Wellcome Trust global health
charity which co-funded clinical trials of the Merck shot, said the
"remarkable results" from those trials, as well as promising
progress of other vaccine candidates, were "among the few positive
outcomes to emerge from the epidemic".
The WHO announced last week that no new Ebola cases had been
reported in the three worst affected countries of Guinea, Liberia
and Sierra Leone in the preceding 42 days.
Yet shortly after the WHO announcement - which included a warning
that sporadic flare-ups could occur - Sierra Leone reported an
Ebola-related death.
Farrar said such instances show how an Ebola vaccine could yet be
useful in this outbreak, even in its final stages.
"As we saw with the new confirmed case just last week, the Ebola
epidemic is likely to have a long tail and it's possible that
several more isolated cases will emerge in the coming weeks and
months," he said in a statement.
"This vaccine...could still play an important role in containing any
additional flare ups of this outbreak, as well as being available to
help prevent future epidemics."
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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