Interview: Zika vaccine may be ready for emergency use this year -developer (updated)
29/01/2016 02:18
(Adds details on vaccine, quotes, background)
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A vaccine for the
Zika virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects in
thousands of infants, could be ready for emergency use before
year-end, one of its lead developers said on Thursday, a
timetable well ahead of estimates by U.S. officials.
Canadian scientist Gary Kobinger, part of a consortium
working on the vaccine, told Reuters in an interview that the
first stage of testing on humans could begin as early as August.
If successful, that may allow the vaccine to be used during a
public health emergency, in October or November.
"The first thing is to be ready for the worst," Kobinger,
who helped develop a trial vaccine that was successful in
fighting Ebola in Guinea, said. "This vaccine is easy to
produce. It could be cranked to very high levels in a really
short time." He did not say when it could be widely available.
The United States has two potential candidates for a Zika
vaccine and may begin clinical trials in people by the end of
this year, but there will not be a widely available vaccine for
several years, U.S. officials said on Thursday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N15C222
The mosquito-transmitted virus has been linked to brain
damage in thousands of babies in Brazil. There is no proven
vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and
chikungunya, which causes mild fever and rash. An estimated 80
percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult
for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.
In Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on
Thursday that Zika is spreading "explosively" and could affect
as many as four million people in the Americas. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N15C37P
Kobinger, the lead scientist on this project from Quebec
City's Laval University and head of special pathogens at
Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, is
working with the University of Pennsylvania, led by scientist
David Weiner, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc INO.O and South
Korea's GeneOne Life Science Inc 011000.KS .
Joseph Kim, chief executive of Inovio, said the timeline to
make the vaccine available by year's end is aggressive, but
possible.
"I believe this will be the first to go into human testing.
We believe we're ahead of the pack in the race for a Zika
vaccine," he said in an interview.
Inovio shares on the Nasdaq jumped 7.6 percent on Thursday to
close at $5.78.
Other vaccine candidates appear to be moving more slowly.
The Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute said last week it
planned to develop a vaccine "in record time," although its
director warned this was still likely to take three to five
years.
The candidate vaccine Kobinger is working on mimics the
virus, triggering the body's immune system, he said.
"When the real thing comes in, then the antibodies are
there, the immune system is primed, it's ready to attack right
away," Kobinger said.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel; Editing by Alan Crosby)
Keywords: HEALTH ZIKA/VACCINE