Ebola vaccines in limbo expose need for more speed in trials

An Ebola trials notebook is seen in a laboratory during trials for an Ebola vaccine at The Jenner Institute in Oxford, southern England January 16, 2015. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

LONDON (Reuters) - Drugmakers' plans to conduct vast clinical trials to test and hopefully validate the first Ebola vaccines have been thwarted by success in beating back the deadly epidemic in West Africa.

GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Johnson & Johnson are struggling to recruit volunteers with enough exposure to the disease to prove whether their vaccines are doing the job and preventing infection.