New England Journal of Medicine
May 12, 2016 Vol. 374 No. 19
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

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Perspective
The Zika Challenge
C.J. Haug, M.P. Kieny, and B. Murgue
[Concluding text]
…Many lessons learned from the response to the recent Ebola outbreak have helped in the response to the ZIKV outbreak. Most important, there is general agreement on the need for international collaboration on regulatory issues, research, and data sharing. For example, major regulatory agencies (such as Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicines Agency) have committed to prioritizing the expedited evaluation of Zika products and will proactively reach out to product developers to provide advice on regulatory issues. Regulators have also initiated collaborations and are sharing their experiences with each other.

Another major advance over the Ebola response has been the speed with which data are being shared — for example, through the real-time posting of data from pathogenesis experiments in nonhuman primates. The December 2015 statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors clarifying that prepublication dissemination of critical information will not prejudice later journal publication related to ZIKV or future public health emergencies has been helpful. Similarly, a February 2016 statement on open data sharing in ZIKV has been transformative in signaling that funders expect proactive data sharing. ZIKV provides a case study of the need for expedited research to answer basic questions, which will allow for development of control measures.

We are working in a new area with many unknowns. But as the WHO meeting showed, there is ample experience and expertise from work with other viruses and vectors — ranging from basic science to field work and surveillance — to guide clinical practice, research, and product development. It is critical that we collaborate rather than compete to find answers to the questions that worry millions of women of child-bearing age in areas where ZIKV is spreading rapidly and may become endemic.