Ervebo (Ebola Zaire Vaccine, Live/rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP): The First Licensed Vaccine for the Prevention of Ebola Virus Disease

Abstract

Objective: To review the clinical data regarding the safety and efficacy of the Ervebo (Ebola Zaire vaccine, live/rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP) vaccine for the prevention of the Ebola virus disease. Data Sources: A literature search through PubMed, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library was conducted for clinical trials published between January 2014 and June 2020 in the English language using the keywords Ervebo, rVSVΔG-ZEBOV, rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP, Ebola Zaire, and vaccine. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Articles were selected if they were related to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Ervebo (Ebola Zaire vaccine, live/rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP) or provided novel data regarding this entity. Twelve articles noted in the FDA approval were chosen, along with 2 additional articles identified as providing novel information. Data Synthesis: The findings of the review show that Ervebo (Ebola Zaire vaccine, live/rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP) is a safe, immunogenic, and likely effective vaccine for the prevention of Ebola virus disease. Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice: Ebola virus disease is highly infectious and often fatal. There have been multiple large outbreaks in the past 5 years, with no licensed treatments or vaccines. An effective vaccine could largely curtail current outbreaks and prevent further ones. Conclusion: The recent FDA approval of Ervebo (Ebola Zaire vaccine, live/rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP) offers the first approved vaccine for the prevention of Ebola virus disease. It has been shown to be safe, immunogenic, and likely effective for use in real-world applications for those at risk of contracting the disease.

Developmental Landscape of Potential Vaccine Candidates Based on Viral Vector for Prophylaxis of COVID-19

“…Several replicating and nonreplicating viral vectors such as alphavirus, flavivirus, adenovirus, vaccinia virus, and paramyxovirus have been used for vaccine development. Of these, two prime candidates have emerged, namely, the chimpanzee adenovirus–based vaccine (ChAd3-EBO-Z) ( Tapia et al, 2015 ) and the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus–based vaccine (rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP) ( Piszczatoski and Gums, 2020 ). Another candidate consisting of an adenovirus type 26 vector vaccine encoded with glycoprotein of Ebola (Ad26.ZEBOV), and a modified vector vaccine of vaccinia Ankara (MVA-BN-Filo) have shown promising results ( WHO, 2018 ) and is in phase III clinical trial ( ClinicaltrialsNCT04556526, 2020L ).…”

“…After tremendous research work, Ervebo was approved by the FDA as the first vaccine against Ebola. The approval was published on December 19, 2019, and the medication is under postmarketing surveillance by the European Medical Agency (EMA) ( Piszczatoski and Gums, 2020 ).…”

A live-attenuated viral vector vaccine protects mice against lethal challenge with Kyasanur Forest disease virus

“…As vaccine antigens we selected the KFDV prM and E proteins known to be important targets for flavivirus neutralizing antibody responses 22 – 26 . As done previously for a Zika virus vaccine approach 27 , we utilized the established recombinant VSV vector expressing the Ebola virus glycoprotein (VSV-EBOV) 28 – 30 to benefit from its favorable immune cell targeting 31 , 32 . A second vaccine candidate was based on an altered VSV-EBOV vector where we deleted the glycan cap (GC) and mucin like domain (MLD) of the EBOV GP with the idea to remove most of the immunodominant EBOV GP epitopes 33 – 36 to skew the immune response towards the KFDV prM and E proteins.…”

Pathogen Dose in Animal Models of Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Infections and the Potential Impact on Studies of the Immune Response

“…There are few approved vaccines and therapeutics available for prevention and treatment of disease and outbreaks of hemorrhagic fevers still occur regularly. In late 2019, the EBOV vaccine Ervebo, a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-vectored vaccine expressing Ebola glycoprotein, was approved by the FDA [ 6 ]. This represented a major breakthrough in the future prevention of EBOV outbreaks.…”