Parliament approves Ebola vaccine trials in the country
Parliament has approved Ebola vaccine trials in the country and urged the Minister of Health to intensify education on the clinical trials.
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The Health Committee of Parliament, which considered the report, also resolved to undertake follow-ups on all the processes involved in the scientific exercises.
The Ranking Member of the committee and Member of Parliament (MP) for Nhyiaeso, Dr. Richard Winfred Anane, presented the report on behalf of the chairman of the committee at Thursday’s sitting and said the committee noted that the rationale for Ghana’s selection for the trials, together with four other West African countries, was that should the vaccine prove efficacious, it would be deployed immediately to help stop any possible spread of the disease.
Nigeria, Senegal, Cameron and Mali are the other four countries for the trials.
The report indicated that Ghana had so far not recorded any case of the disease but was located close to countries that had recorded cases of the disease.
Another reason was that residents in countries with recorded cases of Ebola might have developed some antibodies that would affect the outcome of the trial and that the standard practice was to undertake the trial in a country with no track record of the disease.
According to the committee, the technical team indicated that the Oncho Research Centre in Hohoe and the Kintampo Health Research Centre had been chosen for the trials because the two centers were well-equipped with clinical trial facilities of international standard.
Those centers also have well-recognised and qualified biomedical scientists with proven experience in clinical vaccine studies.
Benefits of clinical trials to Ghana
The committee gave an assurance that the current processes underway to develop a vaccine were similar to other processes performed to develop vaccines globally.
Through these trials, the committee observed, Ghana stood at an advantage to develop its own capacity to undertake similar trials on the efficacy of locally manufactured products, especially herbal drugs.
It said without the test there would only be experimental drugs available to combat the disease, whose efficacy cannot be guaranteed.
A report of a technical team had informed the committee that the location of the country to Ebola-prone locations made it susceptible to the disease and that in the event of any outbreak, the impact could be disastrous.
It, therefore, stressed the need for the country to hold itself in readiness and pursue the option of trying to find a vaccine.
No ongoing trials
The committee said after interacting with key stakeholders, it was persuaded that there were no ebola clinical trials going on in the country, contrary to earlier reports.
It, however, said the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) had approved a vaccine, namely the Johnson Ebola Vaccine, for clinical trials as part of an international effort to find a cure in addition to a second vaccine, the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The report said the committee was convinced that the vaccine approved for clinical trial was safe and that most of the concerns about the vaccine could only be answered after the clinical trials had been undertaken.
It said it was because of those concerns that the scientific exercise was being undertaken with the view to coming out with a cure for the disease and that the trials were to be conducted in strict adherence to national regulations and international standards.
Background
Following a statement made by Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, MP for Ho West, on behalf of the Volta Region caucus and a statement by the Minister of Health, Mr. Alex Segbefia, on the trials of the vaccine in the country, the Speaker referred the matter to the Committee on Health to ascertain whether there was an ongoing Ebola vaccine trial in the country and if so, whether the vaccines being used were safe and posed no risk to the citizenry.
In considering the report, the committee met with the Minister of Health and his deputy, the technical team from the FDA, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
Others were the Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee, the Kintampo Health Research Unit and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.