Vauhini
Vara writes for the New Yorker (11/26) that Merck’s freshly-inked
deal with NewLink Genetics over the latter company’s promising Ebola vaccine
means that it joins GSK, J&J, and several startups in a test of R&D as
the companies try to win the first broad approval. With only a handful of cases
in developed countries, Ebola does not have much promise of profit in the
traditional drug discovery and development model, but public payers are poised
to stockpile large volumes of approved vaccines and therapeutics. Compared to
blockbuster vaccines like Merck’s Gardasil, Ebola is likely to generate small
profits at best. The New Yorker offers two reasons for Merck’s deal: “it was
seen as a promising drug and had features in common with other Merck vaccines,
and Merck had experience in developing and producing vaccines that NewLink, as
a much smaller company, lacked.”
Trefis (11/26) agrees that an Ebola vaccine is
unlikely to create a blockbuster for Merck, writing “the incremental value
addition from a successful launch and commercialization will be low considering
Merck’s size and our expectation that the price of vaccine is likely to be
low.” Zacks Investment Research (11/26), meanwhile,
calls the acquisition” a smart move.”
Chemical & Engineering News (11/26,
Halford) reports that, in contrast to the two doses believed to be required for
Glaxo’s ChAd3 vaccine to be effective, Merck/NewLink’s VSV-EBOV should work
with only one jab. The difference could be a boon for Merck, as the vaccine is
supposed to be deployed in areas with limited healthcare infrastructure or in
wealthier countries experiencing a public health crisis. In addition to vaccine
R&D, intensive efforts are also underway by numerous companies to develop
treatments for those already infected and to produce a fast, cheap, and
reliable test for the condition.
GSK Vaccine Trial Underway. TIME (11/26, Sifferlin) gives an update on the
status of one of two experimental Ebola vaccine trials being tested in humans.
GlaxoSmithKline and NIH partnered to develop a vaccine being tested at the
University of Maryland School of Medicine, University of Oxford, Emory
University, and in the field in Mali. Healthy volunteers have already been
given the vaccine and researchers are waiting for the 28th day after injection
for data, as this is the date at which the immune response would be the
strongest due to the vaccine. Researchers hope to bring this vaccine to the WHO
by the end of December.
The Baltimore Sun (11/26, Dance) profiles volunteers
who signed up to test the Ebola vaccine at University of Maryland. Volunteers
report high fevers immediately following injection and feeling “exhausted.” The
Sun reports that volunteers cannot catch Ebola from receiving the vaccine
because the vaccine does not contain the virus. Instead, the vaccine uses
chimpanzee cold virus to trick the immune system into creating antibodies for
Ebola. NIH will compare the results from these volunteers to results in monkeys
who were given the vaccine and subsequently exposed to Ebola. Nancy Sullivan,
chief of the biodefense research section of NIAID said about the testing,
“Unless you have a crystal ball that is well maintained, you can’t really
predict how any of these things will perform in humans. ... It’s cautious
optimism.”
Analysis: GeoVax Needs Partner For Ebola Vaccine. A
November 18 analysis (off embargo today) by Edison’s Philippa Gardner and Mick
Cooper explored GeoVax, a tiny biotech working on a one-shot Ebola vaccine. The
company is trying to find a partner, possibly the CDC, to help it test the
vaccine (experimental name GOVX-E301). Edison noted that, with a current
valuation of $5.6 million, “current cash will be insufficient for further
development.” Analysis based on embargoed market research from Thomson Reuters.
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