Inovio Ebola vaccine shows positive results in phase I human trials

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc on Wednesday said that its Ebola vaccine, INO-4212, showed promising results in early-stage human trials.

According to the company, the vaccine was safe, tolerable, and generated strong T cell and antibody responses in its fully enrolled phase I study of 75 healthy subjects.

Data from the human trial, which was conducted by an Inovio-led consortium and was selected and awarded $45 million by the US, is being prepared for peer-reviewed publication.

The company claimed that previous preclinical testing in mice and non-human primates showed the vaccine protected 100% of immunized animals from sickness and death following exposure to a lethal dose of Ebola.

Besides INO-4212, two other vaccine candidates - ChAd3-ZEBOV, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in collaboration with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and VSV-EBOV, developed by NewLink Genetics and Merck Vaccines USA in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada - have been shown to be safe and well tolerated in phase I clinical trials humans.