Sept 4 (Reuters) - Scientists will fast-track tests on another Ebola vaccine, this time from Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N, in another sign that the world's worst outbreak of the virus is mobilizing research into the deadly disease. 
 
 J&J; said on Thursday that clinical trials of its new vaccine, which includes technology from Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO, would commence in early 2015. 
 
 The move follows a decision to begin initial human testing of a GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L vaccine this month and plans to test one developed by Canadian government scientists, which has been licensed to NewLink Genetics NLNK.O, in the autumn. 
 
 Human tests on the J&J; vaccine were previously not expected to start until late 2015 or early 2016. 
 
 J&J;'s long-term goal is to develop a vaccine that can protect against both the Zaire and Sudan strains of Ebola, as well as a related condition called Marburg disease. But the program has been simplified in light of the current outbreak. 
 
 “Because of the emergency we decided to focus on the Ebola Zaire strain, which is the one in the West Africa outbreak, and that’s why we can accelerate the program significantly,” Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters. 
 
 As with the GSK and NewLink programs, J&J; is working on the clinical trials with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of National Institutes of Health. 
 
 “The crisis is so important here, and still expanding, that more than one approach is warranted, in case the epidemic doesn’t come under control in the coming months,” Stoffels said. 
 
 All of the initial Phase I trials will enroll healthy volunteers with the goal of determining whether the experimental vaccines are safe and whether they provoke a protective immune response. 
 
 Stoffels said it had not yet been decided where trials on the J&J; vaccine would be conducted or how many subjects would be involved. 
 
 The race to develop new drugs and vaccines has been spurred by a World Health Organization ruling that it is ethical to use experimental products in the current epidemic, given the high death toll. 
 
 Governments and aid organizations have scrambled to contain the disease, which according to the United Nations agency has killed more than 1,900 in West Africa since March. 
 
 J&J; said its vaccine, which was developed by its Crucell unit in the Netherlands, provided complete protection against the Zaire strain of Ebola when tested on macaque monkeys. 
 
 Like a number of other experimental vaccines against various diseases that are now in development, it uses a common cold virus, called an adenovirus, to carry its payload. Immunization with the J&J; vaccine consists of two injections 
 
 one to prime the immune system and a second to boost the response. They were given two months apart in the monkey tests. By contrast, researchers are testing just a single shot of GSK's vaccine. 
 
 How safe and effective J&J;'s product will be in humans remains to be seen, but more than 1,000 people have already received similar experimental vaccines from Crucell in clinical trials for other diseases with no apparent ill effects, offering some reassurance. 
 
 Bavarian Nordic, meanwhile, has used a similar approach in producing a smallpox vaccine that has been stockpiled around the world and tested on more than 7,300 people. 
 
 J&J; is also stepping up research into potential drugs for Ebola by undertaking an intensive review of known biological pathways used by the virus to see if previously tested medicines might help. ||||| LONDON (AP) — As West Africa struggles to contain the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola, some experts say an unusual but simple treatment might help: the blood of survivors. 
 
 FILE - This handout file photo taken Sept. 2, 2014, provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows A 39-year-old woman, the first participant enrolled in VRC 207, receiving... (Associated Press) 
 
 The evidence is mixed for using infection-fighting antibodies from survivors' blood for Ebola, but without any licensed drugs or vaccines for the deadly disease, some say it's worth a shot. 
 
 "This is something that's fairly simple to do," said Dr. Peter Piot, director of London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. 
 
 Using blood of survivors is one of the experimental Ebola treatments under discussion at a two-day meeting that began Thursday in Geneva. The more than 200 experts assembled by the World Health Organization are looking at issues of safety and effectiveness and considering which treatments should be prioritized for testing during the current outbreak. 
 
 There are about a half dozen medicines and vaccines in development. None has been rigorously tested in humans but early testing of one vaccine began this week in the United States. 
 
 Much attention has focused on the untested drug ZMapp, which was given to seven patients, two of whom died. But the limited supply is now exhausted and its developer says it will take months to make even a modest amount. 
 
 In contrast, WHO's blood network, an international group of blood regulators, noted there are thousands of survivors from past Ebola outbreaks in Africa who could be tapped as a source of survivor blood. 
 
 The group recently issued a paper on how the strategy might be used. It said blood from survivors should be considered experimental and it recommended studies be done during the outbreak. 
 
 Some scientists think antibodies in the blood of Ebola survivors could help patients infected with the deadly disease. Antibodies are produced by the body's immune system to fight off harmful things like viruses; they remain in the blood ready to fight off any future infections by the same foreign substance. 
 
 Piot said it is vital to find out if the blood treatment is effective. 
 
 "I hope this is the last Ebola outbreak where all we have is isolation, quarantine and supportive care to treat patients," he said. 
 
 Experts say blood from survivors could be collected and processed for multiple patients, or a survivor could donate blood to an individual patient. Both methods require screening the blood for diseases like HIV or malaria. 
 
 While direct donation would be easier, the levels of Ebola-fighting antibodies produced by a survivor can vary. Ideally, experts said, the amount of antibodies should be measured. 
 
 "With drugs, you can at least do some quality control," said Tom Geisbert, an Ebola expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "If you're just taking blood blindly from (survivors) without testing it for antibody levels, how can we predict what outcome they will have?" 
 
 In West Africa, there have been no organized attempts to use the blood of survivors to treat patients. Blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola was given in July to American doctor Kent Brantly, who was infected in Liberia. Brantly also got some ZMapp and was released from an Atlanta hospital last month. It's unknown whether the drug or the boy's blood aided his recovery. 
 
 Blood from survivors of diseases including Ebola, bird flu and anthrax has been used in the past when doctors ran out of options and seems to work best in diseases where there's a toxin, like anthrax and tetanus. 
 
 For treating Ebola, "you would need to come up with how much you should give, how long, and what's a safe infusion rate," said Dr. Michael Kurilla, director of BioDefense at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. "If you know what the potency of the serum is, you could theoretically help the body clear Ebola out of their cells before it can do too much damage." 
 
 Dr. Colin Brown, who recently worked in Ebola clinics in Sierra Leone for King's College London's partnership with the country, said local hospitals should be able to provide survivors' blood if doctors want to offer it. 
 
 So far, more than 3,000 people have been infected. Last week, WHO estimated there could be another 20,000 cases before the Ebola outbreak is stopped, a figure Brown described as unfortunate but realistic. 
 
 "It does give us the opportunity to try some new therapies," he said. "And as long as they are not harmful, why shouldn't we try to do something, hopefully help some patients and learn from this?" 
 
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– As the Ebola outbreak reaches apocalyptic proportions, an experimental method to help fight the virus is emerging: injecting victims with the blood of survivors. American Dr. Kent Brantly underwent the procedure in July, though it isn't clear if it improved his condition. Yet with vaccines only just beginning human trials and untested supplies dwindling, thousands of survivors carrying antibodies could save lives. Their blood would first need to be tested for diseases, and the antibodies would need to be measured. Overall, however, "this is something that's fairly simple to do," a doctor who helped discover Ebola tells the AP. The technique is one of several being discussed at a World Health Organization meeting in Geneva, and blood regulators suggest the method be studied. "You would need to come up with how much you should give, how long, and what's a safe infusion rate," a director at the US National Institutes of Health says. "If you know what the potency of the serum is, you could theoretically help the body clear Ebola out of [the] cells before it can do too much damage." Meanwhile, as early testing of a vaccine began this week, Johnson & Johnson says it will fast-track a vaccine targeting the strain in West Africa and begin human clinical trials early next year, Reuters reports.