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Human trials sped up to deliver millions of Ebola vaccines in 2015

Millions of doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine will be ready by the end of 2015 after drugmakers pledged to work together to speed up safety trials in human volunteers.

The World Health Organisation said high risk groups, including frontline health workers in West Africa, are front of the queue to receive the vaccines by early next year.

An estimated 200,000 doses of experimental Ebola vaccines could be available by the middle of 2015 after a meeting of drug officials in Geneva.

The WHO said potential manufacturers have committed to ensuring vaccines are sold at affordable prices.

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Human safety trials sped up to get out Ebola vaccines

Drugmakers have pledged to work together to speed up Ebola safety trials in human volunteers in a bid to produce an estimated 200,000 doses of experimental vaccines by the middle of 2015.

Two leading vaccine candidates, from GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink Genetics, are in human clinical trials while another five experimental vaccines are set to begin clinical trials next year.

A researcher holds a package of an experimental candidate vaccine against the Ebola virus at the University hospital in Geneva. Credit: Reuters/Mathilde Missioneiro/WHO

High risk groups, including frontline health workers in West Africa, are front of the queue to receive the vaccines by early next year.

"Vaccines are not a magic bullet, but when ready they may be a good part of the effort to turn the tide against the epidemic," the WHO's Marie-Paule Kieny said after a meeting of industry executives, global health experts, drug regulators and funders in Geneva.

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Human trials sped up to deliver millions of Ebola vaccines in 2015

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