RVSV-ZEBOV vaccine

rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine

An electron micrograph of the Ebola virus
Vaccine description
Target disease	Ebola virus
Type	Recombinant vector
Identifiers
ChemSpider	none

Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus–Zaire Ebola virus (rVSV-ZEBOV) is an experimental vaccine for protection against Ebola virus disease. Results of a clinical trial published in December 2016 found the vaccine to be 70–100% effective in preventing infection and to have mild to moderate side effects. How long the benefits last is unclear.

rVSV-ZEBOV is a recombinant, replication-competent vaccine. It consists of a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which has been genetically engineered to express a glycoprotein from the Zaire ebolavirus so as to provoke a neutralizing immune response to the Ebola virus.

It was created by scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada, which is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). PHAC licensed it to a small company, NewLink Genetics, which started developing the vaccine; NewLink in turn licensed it to Merck in 2014. It is unavailable for commercial use as of December 2016.

rVSV-ZEBOV is a candidate vaccine against Ebola virus disease. Results of a clinical trial were published in December 2016; the study found the vaccine to be 70–100% effective in preventing infection.

Onset of effectiveness is believed to occur within five days. How long the benefits last is unclear.

Side effects are generally mild to moderate. They may include joint pain, feeling tired, headache, pain at the site of injection, and muscle pains.

rVSV-ZEBOV is a live, attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus in which the gene for the native envelope glycoprotein is replaced with that from the Ebola virus, Kikwit 1995 Zaire strain.Manufacturing of the vaccine for the Phase I trial was done by IDT Biologika. Manufacturing of vaccine for the Phase III trial was done by Merck, using cells from African green monkeys, which Merck already used to make its RotaTeq vaccine against rotavirus.