Promising termination have come out of the only active clinical trial for a vaccine against Lyme disease . Valneva , a Gallic biotech party , late announcedits first Phase 2 clinical trial has demonstrate that its vaccine against Lyme disease is both secure and efficient .
The vaccine work by trigger the body ’s immune system to acquire antibody for the six vernacular serotypes of the disease that are found in North America and Europe . It does this by introducing anisolatedproteinof the pathogen to the body , allowing the immune system to recognise and answer to the airfoil protein found on the bacteria responsible for for Lyme disease , Borrelia burgdorferi .
Over 570 healthy adults in the US and Europe were give one of two dose stratum of the vaccine in three shot , while others were given a placebo as a control . Both grouping that receive the participating dose were ascertain to have produce a significant amount of antibodies against each of the six most prevalent Outer Surface Protein A serotypes ofB. burgdorferi .
Lyme diseaseis stimulate by the bacteriaB. burgdorferitransmittedby infected ticks that hold up in forested areas of Asia , Europe , and the US . It ’s especially common in visitors to rural areas , such as campers and tramper , and dissemble some 300,000 people in the US and 65,000 people in Europe each year .
Although it can be easily treat with antibiotics if caught too soon , it can go on to get an extremely unpleasantly malady if go out untreated , involving symptoms such as heftiness pain , nerve pain , chronic tiredness , inflammation of the brain and spinal corduroy , and stark headache . One of the primary reasons the disease is left untreated is because patientsare often incorrectly diagnosedwith other disease , such as chronic fatigue syndrome , lupus , or genial health problems
This new potential vaccine , know as VLA15 , is currently the only active Lyme disease vaccine in clinical development . Back in 1998 , the US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) approved a Lyme disease vaccinum hump as LYMErix . It waswithdrawn from the marketjust three year later following doubts over its effectiveness and other contention . Much of the controversy , however , wasoften saidto have beenkicked up by the anti - vaccination bowel movement , which was growing in momentum at the prison term .
The Lyme disease vaccine development project by Valneva pick up a multi - million dollar cash injection from the big pharma elephantine Pfizer .
Of naturally , there ’s more piece of work to be done . Even if the next phase of growing go as expected , it will still be some years before this vaccination is available on the marketplace . After all , vaccinum development is a long and punishing mental process . Nevertheless , the results are reckon anticipate so far .
“ Further datum from the ongoing Phase 2 trials in the come months will support further dose and agenda decisions . We are closely working with Pfizer to go on the development of VLA15 expeditiously , ” Wolfgang Bender , MD , PhD , Chief Medical Officer of Valneva , remark in apress release .
