When Thomas Geisbert first developed the rVSV vaccine platform years ago, he could never have imagined it would one day serve as the blueprint for fighting a new Ebola strain. Now the University of Texas virologist finds himself at the center of an urgent global effort—and he believes science may be moving faster than ever before.
More than 875 cases of the Bundibugyo strain have been confirmed across Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, with 202 deaths in just over a month. It's a grim toll, no doubt. But what makes this outbreak different from crises past is the unprecedented speed at which researchers are mobilizing to develop new vaccines and treatments tailored specifically to this strain—something that has never been done before.
"This maybe could be accelerated to six to seven months," Geisbert told AFP, referring to the timeline for getting a new rVSV-based vaccine into human trials. The World Health Organization has called this candidate the "most promising" of three jabs now in development.
The second vaccine uses the ChAdOx1 platform that underpinned AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot and is being developed by the University of Oxford alongside the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. The third comes from U.S. pharma firm Moderna, leveraging the same mRNA technology it pioneered during the pandemic. According to CEPI, the nonprofit funding vaccine research, both could be ready for Phase 1 human trials within just two to three months. "If things go smoothly, this could be as early as July," a CEPI spokesperson noted.
On the treatment side, the WHO has prioritized three candidates: remdesivir, the antiviral made by Gilead that was used during COVID; MBP134, a monoclonal antibody from Mapp Biopharmaceutical; and Maftivimab, developed by Regeneron. All three are being fast-tracked into clinical studies in affected countries.
CEPI's deputy CEO, Aurelia Nguyen, described the approach as placing "three bets" on platforms with different strengths. It took two years to bring a 2018 outbreak of a different Ebola strain under control—even though vaccine doses were ready within 72 hours. This time, the global health community is determined to move even quicker.
With millions of dollars in CEPI funding already committed and three distinct vaccine platforms racing forward simultaneously, researchers are cautiously optimistic. The world learned hard lessons from past Ebola crises. Today, those lessons are translating into something rare: a head start.