- Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/VACCINES-SWISS Swiss Ebola vaccine trials expected to begin Friday
- Date: 28th October 2014
- Summary: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 28, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL SCREEN IMAGES OF THE TWO LEAD CANDIDATES FOR VACCINES WHICH WILL BE TESTED IN LAUSANNE AND GENEVA NEWS BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PROFESSOR OF LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES DEPARTMENT, BLAISE GENTON, SAYING: "We should get 101 vials for 100 subjects, and we hope to receive the vaccine tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and to do the first injection on October 31." GENTON BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF PROFESSOR OF LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES DEPARTMENT, BLAISE GENTON, SAYING: "It's what we call a phase one trial so it's to test the safety and the immunogenicity, the response to the vaccine in non-immune volunteers. The volunteers here will be categorized in two groups. There is one group of volunteers that are potentially deployed, so that might be exposed to the virus because they will go to epidemic areas to work, and there is another group of volunteers that are Swiss people that will stay here." DOCUMENT THAT WILL BE GIVEN TO VACCINE TRIAL VOLUNTEERS NEWS CONFERENCE ONGOING VARIOUS OF FIFTH-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT MARIE SCHMIDHAUSER RECEIVING INFORMATION BEFORE VOLUNTEERING FOR TRIALS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIFTH-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT MARIE SCHMIDHAUSER SAYING: "I think that among the general population, there is a lot of apprehension because there has been a sort of controversy around Ebola. Here at the hospital I have been well informed, I have received precise information, so I believe that, no, I am quite well informed. And I also told myself that if everyone was scared, nobody would dare to make the necessary tests to be able to find a solution to the problem." VARIOUS OF SCHMIDHAUSER SIGNING LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 12th November 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Switzerland
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1H3NHP8I9Q4GL6IHYVRAFJKWN
- Story Text: The first trials of an experimental Ebola vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, one of two leading vaccine candidates, are expected to start at the Lausanne University Hospital as early as next Friday, a top doctor at the hospital's Infectious Diseases Department said on Tuesday (October 28).
The GSK vaccine is already undergoing safety tests in Britain, the United States and Mali.
"We should get 101 vials for 100 subjects, and we hope to receive the vaccine tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and to do the first injection on October 31," Professor Blaise Genton told a news conference in Geneva.
Switzerland's drug regulator said earlier on Tuesday it had approved the testing of the GSK vaccine on healthy volunteers, some of whom will be travelling to West Africa as medical staff.
The trial will be conducted among 120 volunteer participants at the Lausanne University Hospital, with support from the World Health Organization.
The volunteers, who include many medical students, will be monitored for six months to determine both the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. There is a small control group of volunteers among them who will be given a placebo. So far, 50 volunteers have applied to participate in the study.
"It's what we call a phase one trial so it's to test the safety and the immunogenicity, the response to the vaccine in non-immune volunteers. The volunteers here will be categorized in two groups. There is one group of volunteers that are potentially deployed, so that might be exposed to the virus because they will go to epidemic areas to work, and there is another group of volunteers that are Swiss people that will stay here," Genton said.
Genton said he was confident about the safety of this vaccine because the same technology has been used for a malaria vaccine.
Fifth-year medical student, Marie Schmidhauser is one of the 50 volunteers who have signed up.
"I think that among the general population, there is a lot of apprehension because there has been a sort of controversy around Ebola. Here at the hospital I have been well informed, I have received precise information, so I believe that, no, I am quite well informed. And I also told myself that if everyone was scared, nobody would dare to make the necessary tests to be able to find a solution to the problem," she said.
Results from these and other early trials will provide the basis for planning larger studies, involving thousands of participants, and for choosing vaccine dose-level for such efficacy trials.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
