Crucell's Ebola vaccine works in monkeys
after Dutch biotechnology firm Crucell announced a single dose of
its Ebola vaccine had successfully protected monkeys during trial
tests.
The success of these trials raises hopes of an effective vaccine on a virus which kills between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of its victims and is one of the world's most feared diseases.
Crucell, which used its PER.C6 cell culture technology to develop the vaccine, said the monkey experiments were performed over the last six months by the Vaccine Research Centre (VRC) of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The PER.C6 gene technology uses human cells as a platform to produce drugs, including vaccines, to battle diseases such as HIV and cancer.
A shift in startegy last year from licensing its PER.C6 technology to in-house vaccine development has done wonders for Crucell's share price of late. Having been trading slightly lower before the announcement, the price rose seven per cent to €6.69. It was revealed that they had jumped more than 40 per cent since the start of the year but down from a 2004 high of €7.79.
Crucell's discovery comes after the US Senate allocated $5.6 billion (€) on the development of countermeasures against chemical and biological weapons, including Ebola.
Ebola, first identified in 1976, causes severe internal bleeding. Last year an outbreak of Ebola killed more than 120 people in the Congo Republic and also killed many gorillas living in a nearby wildlife preserve.
And as of 31 May, a fresh outbreak in Sudan had led to 25 cases, including 6 deaths. And in the same month a researcher in a heavily guarded Siberian virology laboratory died after pricking herself with a syringe containing Ebola.
Vaccines for infectious diseases represent a growing market. On one hand the growth is driven by a hike in population density that is increasing exposure of humans to animal diseases, an ageing population and increasing global travel. Severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) and Hong Kong flu are good examples of these phenomena. Meanwhile, the threat of bioterrorism looms large, stimulating research into less common but often more virulent pathogens.
