GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

[RNsidersbuying]

At the meeting, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) of Rixensart, Belgium, which has the vaccine furthest in development, spelled out how it might scale up production in parallel with the safety and efficacy trials now under way so that the product could be ready for wider distribution by April if warranted. The company expects to have preliminary data in November from phase I studies that analyze safety and immune response in small numbers of people not at risk of contracting Ebola. If those data are positive, efficacy trials could start as early as January in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, the three West African countries hard hit by the epidemic.

GSK estimates (see table below, and here) that it will have 24,000 doses of its vaccine ready by January for the efficacy trials. If it cranks up production to full capacity before the those trials are complete, the company could have 230,000 doses available in April, and then could steadily increase capacity to produce more than 1 million doses a month by December 2015.

http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2014/10/leaked-documents-reveal-behind-scenes-ebola-vaccine-issues