Health Canada has given biotechnology company Moderna the go-ahead to start a clinical trial for a vaccine designed to combat the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which has killed more than 1,650 people in one African country.
The government agency announced on Aug. 4 that it had authorized Moderna’s mRNA vaccine as part of an early stage study, making Canada the second country to authorize a Phase I clinical trial for a Bundibugyo virus vaccine candidate after the UK.
There is currently no licensed vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo virus, the variant of Ebola responsible for the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The outbreak is concentrated in the central African country, but there have also been a small number of deaths in neighbouring Uganda. …