http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...-in-chase.html
Ebola Vaccine Trials Carry Risks for Companies in Chase
By Robert Langreth, Shannon Pettypiece and Caroline Chen Oct 21, 2014 9:14 AM PT
Each of the Ebola vaccines being lined up for testing carries potential downsides, researchers say, ranging from efficacy that faded in less than a year to the chance it will give healthy people flu-like symptoms. In a worst-case scenario, they could do more harm than good.
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Because they are given to healthy people, vaccines have the potential to do more harm than good if serious unexpected effects occur, said Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading in the U.K. In 2007, for example, Merck & Co. halted trials of once-promising AIDS vaccine after a study found that people who got the vaccine may have been more likely to contract HIV than those who got a placebo shot.
In Ebola, a vaccine that creates an immune response that isn?t precisely targeted to shut down the virus might make it easier for the virus to infect healthy cells, Neuman said...
By Robert Langreth, Shannon Pettypiece and Caroline Chen Oct 21, 2014 9:14 AM PT
Each of the Ebola vaccines being lined up for testing carries potential downsides, researchers say, ranging from efficacy that faded in less than a year to the chance it will give healthy people flu-like symptoms. In a worst-case scenario, they could do more harm than good.
...
Because they are given to healthy people, vaccines have the potential to do more harm than good if serious unexpected effects occur, said Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading in the U.K. In 2007, for example, Merck & Co. halted trials of once-promising AIDS vaccine after a study found that people who got the vaccine may have been more likely to contract HIV than those who got a placebo shot.
In Ebola, a vaccine that creates an immune response that isn?t precisely targeted to shut down the virus might make it easier for the virus to infect healthy cells, Neuman said...