Because traditional investors are apparently not showing much enthusiasm about funding the development of Ebola vaccines, one pharmaceutical company is now reaching out to the general population for a helping hand, using the popular Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.
Pentamer Pharmaceuticals, headed by CEO Dr. Stephen Hall, announced today that it has launched a crowdfunding effort to fund a new Ebola vaccine named NoBola.
The company previously developed a vaccine technology called NodaVax that has produced effective vaccines against Anthrax, and now they are using similar technology to tackle Ebola, and are becoming the first company to do so using crowdfunding, said Hall.
"Traditional investors have not been enthusiastic about funding the development of a vaccine that, until now, has been a third-world problem," said Hall. "Even now that Ebola has entered other countries, the traditional investor has still not shown much interest. They are just driven too much by economic considerations. However I believe they will come around as we get closer to an Ebola vaccine.
Crowdfunding is a method of raising capital in small amounts from a large group of people using the Internet and social media. At the same time, this pooling of funds minimizes the risk on a single investment. Hall stated that "people that contribute to the development of Pentamer's Ebola vaccine can directly benefit as well as knowing that their contribution is a humanitarian act. Furthermore, I think we all need to have some skin in the game in order to beat Ebola."
Along with the company's internal research and development, Hall believes his team can "demonstrate Ebola vaccine efficacy," through what he hopes will be used as a proof of concept to persuade traditional investors to step up and further fund trials and vaccine manufacturing.
The first human trials of a different, Canadian-made Ebola vaccine with a 100 percent animal success rate began on Monday.
