United States

With trials under way, scientists are working out how to give vaccines in affected regions

NATURE   By Ewan Callaway                                                                                                 Dec. 2, 2014

Safety trials of Ebola vaccines are starting to return results: at least one is known to be safe and to summon an immune response against the virus.

The challenge now is to use the results to guide the larger studies that will reveal whether the vaccines work.

“The immune responses are there,” says infectious-disease researcher Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute in Oxford, UK. “The tough call is whether they’re enough to protect humans against Ebola.”

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http://www.nature.com/news/positive-results-spur-race-for-ebola-vaccine-1.16468

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                                                                        Dec. 2, 2014 

BETHESDA, Maryland  — Declaring the "fight is nowhere close to being over," President Barack Obama on Tuesday heralded strides in the effort to confront Ebola in West Africa and in protecting the U.S. against the spread of the deadly virus. He said squelching the disease remains an urgent priority even if the American public's attention has shifted elsewhere.

"We cannot let down our guard, even for minute," Obama said. "We can't just fight this epidemic, we have to extinguish it."

Obama spoke after touring the National Institutes of Health in Washington's Maryland suburbs where he witnessed advances in Ebola-fighting research. He highlighted the NIH's progress in developing an Ebola vaccine, calling the initial results "exciting" while cautioning that there are "no guarantees" about the vaccine's ultimate success.

NIH researchers last week reported that the first safety study of a vaccine candidate found no serious side effects, and that it triggered signs of immune protection in 20 volunteers. U.S. health officials are planning much larger studies in West Africa to try to determine if the shots really work...

DESIGN & TREND  by Randall Mayes                                                                             Nov. 29, 2014

Over the last decade, we have witnessed the emergence of Superbugs, various strains of bird flu and now Ebola, which do not have geographical borders.

Consequently, there is a pressing need for international cooperation to control these pandemics.

In a new study, researchers have identified obstacles that are currently preventing the world from sharing health data, reports Science Daily.

While performing a literature search for the study, an international group of researchers discovered over 1,400 scientific articles related to sharing public health data. From those articles, they found two broad categories that need to be addressed.

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http://www.designntrend.com/articles/28008/20141129/urgent-need-improved-infrastructure-share-health-data.htm

Link to article  in Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141125102102.htm

Description of efforts by the big drug companies to develop an Ebloa vaccine
THE NEW YORKER    By Vauhine Vara                        Nov. 25, 2014

"...why this race to create an Ebola vaccine among Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson—three of the world’s biggest drug manufacturers? For years, pharmaceutical companies didn’t invest much in vaccines, partly because they were so costly and complicated to produce: they’re often made out of live bacteria, which are notoriously difficult to work with. But, over the past several years, companies have realized that the difficulties of making vaccines could be an asset, because they can make it more difficult for generic-drug companies to create copycat versions than for prescription drugs. The vaccine market has also been growing more quickly than the prescription-drug market. The World Health Organization estimates, based on various sources, that global vaccine sales rose from five billion dollars in 2000 to twenty-four billion dollars last year...."

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http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/race-ebola-vaccine