We have the science to build an Ebola vaccine. So why hasn't it happened?

[n2doc]

by Sarah Kliff

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the deadliest in history, with more than 500 dead and hundreds more infected. The particular virus in this outbreak, known as the Zaire ebolavirus, is the deadliest type of the disease; it has killed 79 percent of those infected in previous outbreaks.

This isn't how an Ebola outbreak has to work. Researchers have devoted lots of time to building a vaccine that could stop the disease altogether — and according to Daniel Bausch, a Tulane professor who researches Ebola and other infectious diseases, they're making really significant progress.

Bausch says that the obstacle to developing an Ebola vaccine isn't the science; researchers have actually made really great strides in figuring out how to fight back against Ebola and the Marburg virus, a similar disease.

"We now have a couple of different vaccine platforms that have shown to be protective with non-human primates," says Bausch, who has received awards for his work containing disease outbreaks in Uganda. He is currently stationed in Lima, Peru, as the director of the emerging infections department of Naval Medical Research Unit 6.

more

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5952665/ebola-virus-vaccine-why-hasnt-it-happened

[notadmblnd]

1. The obvious answer, $$s

[gordianot]

2. Pharmaceutical where is the profit?

Money is more important than people.

sarcasm

[Mz Pip]

3. Probably because it's rare.

Yes, it's deadly and dramatic but how many people have died from it over the last decade? It's been limited to very remote places.

Now that it's spreading, maybe a vaccine will be developed. I hope so.

[TexasProgresive]

5. cynical answer

You can't get enough Euros, Pounds or Dollars from bush meat eating Africans.
At one time it seemed that the development of sera and vaccines was done less for the money and more for the honor. But then I am old and maybe a bit Pollyannish about things back when.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Yep, exactly what one of the guests on MHP confirmed ...

insufficient profit margin associated with saving the lives of poor people.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. I'm not exactly young, but when I was AIDS was a brand new killer and the governement here was

silent about it for years, Ronald Reagan and his supporters wanted to let it kill us all and Pharma saw no profits from those who died so swiftly, so nothing at all happened for years and years and years. Your memory of the past is very different from mine.

[TexasProgresive]

9. It all went down hill from Raygun on.

I was thinking about the heroic measures that people took to save lives from disease- from Louis Pasteur to the mushers to Nome, to Salk and Sabin. I know I'm leaving out a lot of wonderful men and women who advanced medical science without thinking about profit.

[VanillaRhapsody]

4. It IS happening.....this Sept human trials of a vaccine begins by NIH

[Sam1]

10. After the government pays for the development and testing it will be turned over to a

drug company for manufacture and be subject to monopoly pricing.

My experience with the present system was a drug that cost $200.00 retail was available from a local compounding pharmacy for $27.50. And that was cheaper then my co-pay! I doubt that an Ebola vaccine will be any different.

[quadrature]

7. only the US can pay for making vaccines...

why is that?

[Sam1]

11. See my post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699070

No Treatment or Vaccine for Ebola, but a $1000 Pill for Hepatitis C.