Ebola is an international public health emergency.?This disease has claimed over thousands of lives with no perfect cure available to prevent people from it. However, the European Union has now approved a vaccine to fight against Ebola and save lives.
Reuters
The vaccine called 'Ervebo' is developed by pharmaceutical giant Merck. The medicine, however, was originally created by researchers from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which still owns non-commercial rights.
It recently received conditional marketing authorisation from the European Medicines Agency or EMA. Conditional marketing authorisations are given to new medicines that require an unmet medical need for patients. Such medicines tend to get approved quicker with less time spent on clinical trials.?
Ervebo has had a positive run since its creation. In April, this year, WHO (World Health Organisation) revealed the results of the vaccination trial that was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo where out of 100,000 people that were vaccinated, less than 3 percent people ended up catching Ebola. This test formed the basis of Ervebo's approval by EMA.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, commissioner in charge of Health and Food Safety at the EU's European Commission, said in a statement "Finding a vaccine as soon as possible against this terrible virus has been a priority for the international community ever since Ebola hit West Africa five years ago. Today's decision is therefore a major step forward in saving lives in Africa and beyond."
Reuters
Even though the game-changing medicine will help eradicate Ebola completely, it isn't going to be readily made available to the world right now. According to WHO, licensed doses of Ervebo won't hit the shelves globally before mid-2020. And vaccination in the affected areas will only go through the experimental program.
It also hasn't received approvals from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) yet, which is crucial for it to be available in the US. It is expected to come sometime next year.