HEALTH

Company to start trial of Canadian-made Ebola vaccine

The Canadian Press Published Friday, August 29, 2014 6:18AM EDT

Health workers wearing protective gear go to remove the body of a person who is believed to have died after contracting the Ebola virus in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. (AP, Abbas Dulleh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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TORONTO - The company that's licensed a Canadian-made Ebola vaccine says it hopes to start a Phase 1 trial on the serum in the next few weeks.

The vaccine -- developed at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg -- has been licensed to NewLink Genetics of Ames, Iowa.

The company says it's finalizing the details to start the trial, which will involve injecting the vaccine into between 25 and 60 healthy volunteers.

The vaccine is one of two that will begin to be tested in humans as early as next month.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has announced a Phase 1 trial will start next week on an Ebola vaccine developed at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Ebola experts welcome news these trials are pushing ahead.

As one puts it -- quote -- "We need all the tools we can get."