First Participant Receives Experimental Vaccine in Trial Against Rare Ebola Strain

The first dose has been administered in a clinical trial testing experimental vaccines against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, announced the milestone, saying the Tumaini trial will assess the safety of vaccine candidates, their ability to trigger an immune response and how well they protect against the virus.

The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa has reported more than 10,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths linked to the outbreak.

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments specifically for the Bundibugyo strain.

The trial is jointly led by the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research and the University of Antwerp’s Global Health Institute in Belgium, with support from local and international health organisations.

Participants are people who have had contact within the previous 21 days with someone newly confirmed to have Bundibugyo virus disease.

Under the trial design, participants are randomly assigned to receive either a vaccine candidate or standard treatment on the first day, before receiving the alternative intervention on day 29.

Researchers say the approach will allow them to compare outcomes while maintaining a blinded study design.

The first candidate being evaluated is ERVEBO, which is licensed to protect against the Zaire strain of Ebola, rather than the Bundibugyo strain.

Researchers will also assess candidates being developed specifically against Bundibugyo by Moderna and the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India.

The trial will include children and pregnant women, groups often underrepresented in vaccine research.

Médecins Sans Frontières says their inclusion is important because children have been heavily affected in some areas of the outbreak.

An independent data monitoring committee will review the findings as the trial progresses, with the aim of guiding vaccine use in future outbreaks and strengthening epidemic preparedness.