J&J: Clinical Trial Of Ebola Vaccine Regimen Starts In Sierra Leone

(RTTNews) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced Friday the start of a safety and immunogenicity clinical trial in Sierra Leone of a preventive Ebola vaccine regimen in development at its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

Trial recruitment is underway, and the first volunteers have received their initial vaccine dose. This is the first study conducted of Janssen's Ebola prime-boost vaccine regimen in a West African country affected by the recent Ebola epidemic.

EBOVAC-Salone is a clinical trial to assess the safety and immunogenicity of an Ebola prime-boost vaccine regimen among adults, adolescents and children in Sierra Leone who volunteer to participate.

The new study, EBOVAC-Salone, will take place in Sierra Leone's Kambia district, where some of the country's most recent Ebola cases have been reported. The regimen being tested uses a combination of two vaccine components based on AdVac technology from Crucell Holland B.V., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, and MVA-BN technology from Bavarian Nordic.

The study is being initiated on a parallel track with multiple ongoing Phase I and II studies that are being conducted across the U.S., Europe and Africa as part of the accelerated development plan for the Ebola vaccine regimen.