Local company testing Ebola vaccine

A local company plans to start testing an Ebola Vaccine on humans very soon.

This company was founded by a University of Pennsylvania professor and student. They typically work on vaccines for cancer or chronic diseases, but they had started working on an Ebola vaccine before this outbreak in West Africa even started.

Now they're moving forward in the process.

"We are pushing things along as quickly as possible," says Joseph Kim, Ph.D.

Kim is president of Inovio Pharmaceuticals in Plymouth Meeting. The company has developed a vaccine to protect against the deadly Ebola virus. It's been tested on animals, showing it is safe.

"We're able to protect 100% from both death as well as sickness," Kim said.

Unlike other vaccines, this one doesn't use a virus.

"What conventional vaccine folks have to do is get a hold of the Ebola virus and use different parts to make it," he explained.

At Inovio researchers use a computer, take the genetic code of the virus, then make a synthetic vaccine. Kim says to manufacture it, they use a similar fermentation process as what's used to brew beer.

It can be made much faster than conventional vaccines.

Kim says, "10,000 doses will take about a month."

To test the vaccine on humans, they won't expose anyone to Ebola. But they will look to see if the vaccine creates the same immune response in people as it did in animals.

If it gets good results, Kim says it's possible the government will speed up the approval process.

"All bets are off in an outbreak situation," he said.

Other companies are testing similar vaccines, but Kim says Inovio's can cover more strains of the Ebola virus.

They are a for-profit company, but he says he also feels a moral obligation to help control the deadly outbreak in West Africa.