Zaire Ebola Vaccine Booster Candidate Competes Phase 1b Study

INOVIO today announced that an abstract had been accepted for presentation for INO-4201 as an Ebola booster for Merck's Ervebo® (rVSV-ZEBOV) vaccine at the 33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).

"We are pleased that lead investigator Dr. Angela Huttner will have the opportunity to share important new humoral and cellular response data at ECCMID from our recently completed Phase 1b trial of INO-4201 as an Ebola booster vaccine candidate for Ervebo," said Dr. Laurent Humeau, INOVIO's Chief Scientific Officer, in a press release on April 12, 2023.

INO-4201 is a DNA vaccine targeting Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein, designed to prevent infection.

INO-4201 encodes for a synthetic consensus antigen encompassing ZEBOV genetic variability from various outbreak strains to broaden immune coverage for divergent ZEBOV variants.

The Ebola virus family includes four virus species that cause periodic outbreaks of a highly contagious and lethal human infectious disease called Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

New research suggests dormant Ebola virus in a previously infected survivor could re-emerge up to nearly five years later and again allow human-to-human transmission.

The Ebola virus is classified as a Category A Priority Pathogen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, the World Health Organization lists EVD as a priority for research and development in emergency contexts and coordinates planning to prevent and respond to Ebola epidemics.

Ebola vaccines have been approved and deployed in Africa.