The Race for the Ebola Vaccine

With Ebola still raging in West Africa, the race to find a vaccine is heating up. Which drug company will be first to the finish line?

The need for an Ebola vaccine in West Africa has never been greater.
While public interest in Ebola continues to dwindle, the epidemic itself continues to soar. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization reported more than 20,000 cases of the disease in West Africa, nearly half of them in Sierra Leone. The death toll, which experts believe has been significantly undercut by secret burials, stands at 7,905. With a mortality rate of 70 percent, the more cases that arise, the deadlier this epidemic becomes.
Although a few smaller companies have become involved in the race for a vaccine, three major pharmaceutical makers are taking the lead—each pursuing a different vaccine. The trials are unprecedented for a variety of reasons, including the rapid timeline (trials of this nature generally take three to four years). Each individual race involves an unusual collaboration between researchers, manufacturers, and public-health entities. Together, the teams are working 24 hours a day for a product that promises much higher risk than it does profit.

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