Ebola cases top 4,000 in DRC as WHO urges Ervebo vaccine trial

The Bundibugyo epidemic, ​the world's second-largest, has been described as the ⁠fastest-spreading on record.

More than 300 children have died in the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN said on Friday, as health experts urged trials of the only vaccine against the disease to halt further spread of the rare Bundibugyo species.

Merck & Co.’s Ebola vaccine and an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences Inc. are set for wider use in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to blunt the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.

The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control pledged to deploy a vaccine for a previous Ebola strain in the current DRC outbreak, with test cases indicated a potentially live-saving level of protection.

In today's Pharmalittle newsletter: Moderna's mRNA flu shot approved, a death reported in a gene-editing trial in China, and more.

Trials for new Ebola vaccines are now underway in Canada and the UK but the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) said Tuesday volunteers are needed to participate in clinical experiments as deaths and cases soar in the largest ever outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Moderna has vaccinated the first participants in a trial for a Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine, as the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to battle its fastest-growing outbreak on record.

The vaccine relies on the same mRNA technology used in the pharmaceutical company's Covid-19 vaccine

DR Congo's Ebola outbreak has killed 1,707 people since May. With no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain, the WHO is accelerating trials as Ituri's cases climb.

[UN News] Results may be months away, but efforts are advancing towards enhanced treatment and the world's first vaccine for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday as deaths and cases rise in the largest ever outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The vaccine relies on the same mRNA technology used in Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Moderna on Tuesday said it has begun its first human trial of an experimental vaccine to protect against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a strain of Ebola that has killed more than 1,650 people so far and currently has no approved vaccine.

Trial will run at three sites in Canada and aims to enroll about 80 healthy adults