News Releases & Research Results Tokyo University team to start a phase I clinical trial of a new Ebola vaccine

News Releases & Research Results

Professor Hiroshi Yotsuyanagi and his team at the University of Tokyo Institute of Medical Science are starting a phase I clinical trial of a vaccine called iEvac-Z*. The vaccine is designed against the Ebola virus, and will be tested in healthy male volunteers starting from December 2019.
*The vaccine was developed by Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of University of Tokyo Institute of Medical Science, and others. This work was supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the AMED Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. The vaccine was manufactured at the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant Waisman Biomanufacturing Facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
iEvac-Z is considered safe as it was developed using a form of the virus that had been inactivated by introducing mutations to its genome. It is also expected to be highly effective as it contains multiple viral proteins. This is the first human trial of the Ebola vaccine.
The trial is expected to generate findings that will help develop effective treatments and preventive measures for Ebola viral infection.