The world's first clinical trial of a vaccine designed specifically against Bundibugyo virus began recruiting healthy volunteers in the United Kingdom in mid July, roughly six weeks after global funders committed to accelerating three separate candidates against the Ebola species now driving the largest outbreak ever recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first volunteer was vaccinated later in the month.
The candidate, ChAdOx1 BDBV, was developed by the University of Oxford's Oxford Vaccine Group and Pandemic Sciences Institute. The Phase 1 study will assess safety and immune response in 50 healthy adults aged 18 to 55. The Serum Institute of India manufactured and stockpiled roughly 620,000 doses in two weeks and supplied 4,000 investigational doses for the trial.
