Singapore: Canada plans to donate doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada to the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Ms Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, Canada has reported to have spoken to Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, and offered the experimental vaccine as part of Canada's ongoing commitment to support its international partners in responding to the outbreak.

The Government of Canada will be donating between 800 - 1000 doses to the WHO. The final number of doses provided will be based on the amount required for applied research and clinical trials. Canada will also keep a small supply of the experimental vaccine in the unlikely event it is needed for compassionate use in Canada.

The vaccine, VSV-EBOV, has never been tested in humans, but has shown promise in animal research. Leading scientists at the Agency's National Microbiology Laboratory developed the vaccine and the Government of Canada owns the intellectual property associated with the vaccine. The Government of Canada licensed the rights to BioProtection Systems to further develop the product for use in humans.

The Minister also announced that the Agency will provide an additional USD185,000 to the WHO to support infection prevention and control, enhanced surveillance and outbreak response capacity in the affected region.