In a global first, Uganda’s ministry of health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners on Tuesday launched a first-ever clinical efficacy trial for a vaccine from Ebola from the Sudan species of the virus.

This is the first trial to assess the clinical efficacy of a vaccine against Ebola Sudan virus disease

Additionally,  IAVI, the provider of the vaccine, conducted trials for safety and immunogenicity. It is also the first clinical trial of the vaccine during an outbreak.

The principal investigators from Makerere University and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), with support from WHO and other partners, worked to get the trial ready in 4 days since the outbreak was confirmed on Thursday, January 30.

This vaccine was set up at a groundbreaking speed through advanced research preparedness and compliance with national and international regulatory and ethical requirements.

The candidate vaccine was donated by IAVI, with financial support from WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and support from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

“This is a critical achievement towards better pandemic preparedness, and saving lives when outbreaks occur,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director-General. 

He further exclaimed that this launch was only possible through the support of key partners and dedicated healthcare workers. “This is possible because of the dedication of Uganda’s health workers, the involvement of communities, the Ministry of Health of Uganda, Makerere University and UVRI, and research efforts led by WHO involving hundreds of scientists through our research and development Filoviruses network.”

Although several promising candidate medical countermeasures are progressing through clinical development, as of now, there is no licensed vaccine available to effectively combat a potential future outbreak of Ebola disease from the Sudan species of the virus.

Licensed vaccines exist only for the disease caused by Ebola virus, formerly known as Zaïre ebolavirus. Likewise for treatments, approved treatments are only available for Ebola virus.