HALIFAX – Halifax has been chosen as the site of a clinical trial for a made-in-Canada Ebola vaccine.
The announcement was made Friday by Federal Minister of Health Rona Ambrose.
The trial will be held at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology at the IWK Health Centre and be led by Dr. Scott Halperin.
The vaccine being studied is BPSC1001, an experimental Ebola virus vaccine. It has not been approved by Health Canada for use in humans.
However, Health Canada has approved the trial at the IWK. The vaccine was developed in Winnipeg but testing will take place in Halifax.
“It’s an important study. It’s a high profile study. It’s the type of study we’re used to doing here, which is first-in-human studies,” said Halperin.
He adds that Halifax is one of the few sites in the country that is equipped to do phase one studies.
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Researchers will test 40 participants between the ages of 18 and 65 and evaluate the safety, dosage and side effects of the vaccine. The vaccine only targets one strain of the Ebola virus, the Ebola Zaire, and researchers said it may not be effective against other potential virus strains.
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The vaccine is not made using the Ebola virus but rather a virus called Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) that is commonly found in animals. A protein-producing gene in the VSV has been switched with a gene that produces an Ebola virus protein.
Researchers said you cannot get the Ebola virus from the vaccine but there is the possibility participants could become infected with VSV.
Halperin said the hospital has received a flood of inquiries about the trial. He said staff will screen the prospective participants then enroll them.
He adds that he is aiming to start the trial in a couple weeks and hopes to collect data by the end of the year.
Participants will be followed over a six-month period. They will be required to make 11 visits comprising of two screening visits, one vaccination visit and eight follow-up sessions. Each time, a blood sample will be taken and urine and saliva tests will be conducted.
They will also receive more than $1,100 for their involvement in the study.
The WHO estimates more than 5,000 have died from the virus, making the rush to find a vaccine even more urgent.
– With files from the Canadian Press
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