VSV-ZEBOV Geneva Vaccine Trial

Summary

The hemorrhagic fever resulting from Ebola infection is frequently fatal; the current Ebola outbreak, still in its ascendant phase, has a mortality rate over 50%. There is no proven therapy or prevention available at this time. The vaccine candidate VSV-ZEBOV (BPSC1001) has shown promising safety and efficacy in preventing Ebola Zaire infections in non-human primates (NHP). Before it can be assessed in large Phase IIb/3 trials in affected areas, safety data from phase 1 first-in-human trials are needed. To accelerate this process, the World Health Organization (WHO) has constituted a consortium of Clinical Research Centers in Switzerland, Germany, and Africa that will use similar protocols to collectively include roughly 250 volunteers, the sample size required to identify a 2-fold difference in anti-ZEBOV IgG antibody titers following immunization with 2 different doses of BPSC1001. The joint primary objectives of this single-center, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled phase 1 dose-finding study are to assess the safety and tolerability of the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine when administered to healthy volunteers at a lower or higher vaccine dose and to define whether seroresponses differ significantly following immunization with the lower or higher vaccine dose.

Timeline

Start

2014-11

Primary completion

2015-04

Completion

2016-01

Publications

• Results Agnandji ST, Huttner A, Zinser ME, Njuguna P, Dahlke C, Fernandes JF, Yerly S, Dayer JA, Kraehling V, Kasonta R, Adegnika AA, Altfeld M, Auderset F, Bache EB, Biedenkopf N, Borregaard S, Brosnahan JS, Burrow R, Combescure C, Desmeules J, Eickmann M, Fehling SK, Finckh A, Goncalves AR, Grobusch MP, Hooper J, Jambrecina A, Kabwende AL, Kaya G, Kimani D, Lell B, Lemaitre B, Lohse AW, Massinga-Loembe M, Matthey A, Mordmuller B, Nolting A, Ogwang C, Ramharter M, Schmidt-Chanasit J, Schmiedel S, Silvera P, Stahl FR, Staines HM, Strecker T, Stubbe HC, Tsofa B, Zaki S, Fast P, Moorthy V, Kaiser L, Krishna S, Becker S, Kieny MP, Bejon P, Kremsner PG, Addo MM, Siegrist CA. Phase 1 Trials of rVSV Ebola Vaccine in Africa and Europe. N Engl J Med. 2016 Apr 28;374(17):1647-60. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1502924. Epub 2015 Apr 1.
• Results Huttner A, Dayer JA, Yerly S, Combescure C, Auderset F, Desmeules J, Eickmann M, Finckh A, Goncalves AR, Hooper JW, Kaya G, Krahling V, Kwilas S, Lemaitre B, Matthey A, Silvera P, Becker S, Fast PE, Moorthy V, Kieny MP, Kaiser L, Siegrist CA; VSV-Ebola Consortium. The effect of dose on the safety and immunogenicity of the VSV Ebola candidate vaccine: a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1/2 trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2015 Oct;15(10):1156-1166. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00154-1. Epub 2015 Aug 4.
• Huttner A, Agnandji ST, Combescure C, Fernandes JF, Bache EB, Kabwende L, Ndungu FM, Brosnahan J, Monath TP, Lemaitre B, Grillet S, Botto M, Engler O, Portmann J, Siegrist D, Bejon P, Silvera P, Kremsner P, Siegrist CA; VEBCON; VSV-EBOVAC; VSV-EBOPLUS Consortia. Determinants of antibody persistence across doses and continents after single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination for Ebola virus disease: an observational cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2018 Jul;18(7):738-748. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30165-8. Epub 2018 Apr 5.
• Coller BG, Blue J, Das R, Dubey S, Finelli L, Gupta S, Helmond F, Grant-Klein RJ, Liu K, Simon J, Troth S, VanRheenen S, Waterbury J, Wivel A, Wolf J, Heppner DG, Kemp T, Nichols R, Monath TP. Clinical development of a recombinant Ebola vaccine in the midst of an unprecedented epidemic. Vaccine. 2017 Aug 16;35(35 Pt A):4465-4469. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.05.097. Epub 2017 Jun 21.
• Medaglini D, Harandi AM, Ottenhoff TH, Siegrist CA; VSV-Ebovac Consortium. Ebola vaccine R&D: Filling the knowledge gaps. Sci Transl Med. 2015 Dec 9;7(317):317ps24. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aad3106.

Drugs

Indications