The Ebola outbreak isn’t generating big headlines in the U.S. these days, but forthcoming layoffs at GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) are a hot topic.

Unfortunately for GSK, the job cuts have overshadowed the company’s progress in developing the first vaccine for the deadly Ebola, which has killed some 5,600 people and afflicted thousands more.

Largely overlooked by events surrounding Thanksgiving and then reports that layoffs will begin soon, news emerged that the first initial tests of a GSK Ebola vaccine were successful.

That announcement led to GSK Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty granting an interview with the BBC.

The hopeful sign gave Witty a chance to talk about something positive for a change. Given the $492 million fine for bribery in China and a dismal earnings report in October that triggered a $1.6 billion restructuring and the forthcoming layoffs, Witty talked at some length with the BBC’s Kamal Ahmed.

“It’s a very encouraging first signal,” Witty said. 

“Whether it’s a breakthrough depends on making sure that all the rest of data over the next few weeks and months is in line. But this certainly gives us very significant cause for optimism.”

But Witty said the first tests for safety with healthy volunteers must be “put it into context – this is a very accelerated development programme and this is the first bit of data.

“It’s the first piece of what will be a jigsaw of information that we are going to gather over the next five or six weeks before we move to the next stage.”

Producing anti-bodies

The Associated Press reported last Wednesday that the ”experimental Ebola vaccine appears safe and triggered signs of immune protection in the first 20 volunteers to test it.”

In a story published by the New England Journal of Medicine, health officials said the tests produced anti-Ebola antibodies within four weeks of getting shots.

“Half of the test group received a higher-dose shot, and those people produced more antibodies,” The AP added.

“Some people also developed a different set of virus-fighting immune cells, named T cells,” the wire service added. “That may be important in fending off Ebola, as prior research found that monkeys protected by the vaccine also had that combination response.”

Stimulating both types of immune response is “a promising factor,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the stimulating of both types of immune response “a promising factor.”

Next step is an efficacy trial, and that will take place in January, according to Fauci.

A possible vaccine from NewLink, the GSK vaccine and a placebo will be tested.

Next steps

However, much work remains to be done, Witty told the BBC.

“If all goes well, the large scale clinical trial will be largely with healthcare workers, burial workers and people who are in close proximity to people with Ebola,” he explained.

“If the vaccine works, it will of course be a significant advantage to those workers.

“If overall that trial is successful, all things being equal, [that] should move us to a rapid licence for that vaccine.”

GSK is “working out how we scale up to manufacturing capacity” so the drug giant “would be in a position to manufacture very large quantities – that means millions of doses of the vaccine [being] available if governments and health authorities felt it necessary to go further than vaccinating health care workers.”

The AP reported noted that in an editorial accompanying the medical journal report Dr. Daniel Bausch, a Tulane University Ebola specialist who wasn’t involved in the study, stressed much work remains to be done yet he is hopeful. 

“The road is still long and there are many challenges but we are nevertheless one step closer to a solution,” Bausch wrote.

Other Triangle efforts

GSK isn’t the only company with Triangle connections developing possible Ebola vaccines.

Chimerix recently received a financial boost from Bill Gates through his foundation.

BioCryst, meanwhile, continues to receive government funding for its own efforts.

So even though Ebola isn’t making headlines in the U.S. as often these days, serious work continues to defeat the deadly disease.

Witty had good reasons to speak out.