NIH: Ebola vaccine to be tested in human trials soon

Geisbert is best known as the man who discovered an airborne strain of Ebola that infects only monkeys.

The grant covers three treatments that are thought to be the most promising – i.e. they have shown substantial ability to protect animals against Ebola in a laboratory setting, Geisbert said.

“So these treatments, one of these is actually a vaccine that works as a post-exposure treatment, much like the rabies vaccine when used here in the United States. Another is a small molecule inhibitor called a SIRNA. And the third is just conventional monoclonal antibodies. All of these have been able to protect nonhuman primates against Ebola when given after exposure.”