HCV Vaccine Progress
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Major Milestone Reached In Hepatitis C Vaccine Program
Select Vaccines (AUSTRALIA)
11 November 2005: Melbourne-based biotechnology company, Select Vaccines Ltd (ASX:SLT), today announced positive results from its first pre-clinical studies of a potential vaccine against hepatitis C.
The results followed nine months of animal studies and represent a major advancement of the hepatitis C vaccine program.
Managing Director of Select Vaccines, Dr Martin Soust, said “We obtained good results in our early studies in the laboratory and in a pilot study and, on the strength of these results, we initiated a dose ranging study in mice.”
“We observed very strong immune responses after just one small dose of less than one microgram of this hepatitis C vaccine,” said Associate Professor David Anderson, Chief Scientific Officer with Select Vaccines.
Hepatitis C specific antibodies were produced by all 46 animals injected with the hepatitis C vaccine, even at the lowest dose studied which was 0.2 micrograms. There was also the induction of significant levels of hepatitis C specific T cells, which suggests the vaccine may promote better overall control of infection.
An immune response of this strength in mice suggests a very strong likelihood that a similarly strong response will be produced in a larger animal species that will be studied in the next round of investigations.
The results exceeded the company’s expectations and suggest that the prospects of developing a human vaccine with a good safety profile are excellent.
“The commercial potential of a vaccine against hepatitis C is substantial. Globally, there are almost 300 million people currently infected with hepatitis C and up to 10 million new infections each year. The market for a vaccine against hepatitis C has been estimated to be worth more than $US500 million. The company is pursuing the development of this vaccine as there is currently no vaccine available” said Dr Soust.
“The next steps in our hepatitis C vaccine program are very clear,” Anderson said. “We plan to undertake further studies in larger animals and to produce purified injectable material under GLP conditions for use in a preclinical toxicology study before moving into a phase I clinical trial.” Professor Anderson explained.
Select Vaccines is developing the hepatitis C vaccine with its proprietary vaccine technology that employs virus-like particles to generate a protective immune response against infection. The platform technology involves producing virus-like particles into which specific vaccine antigens of interest, in this case an envelope protein from hepatitis C virus, have been inserted.
“We have been waiting for the outcome from these initial animal studies before considering a very substantial longer-term commitment to vaccine development. With this proof of the VLP platform in hand we have a very strong indication that we may be able to develop vaccines against other infectious diseases and we will look to accelerate and expand our work accordingly.” said Dr Soust.
