News

Announcement: Promising TB vaccine candidate progresses to Phase I clinical trials

The MTBVAC01 vaccine candidate, developed to protect people against tuberculosis, will start Phase I clinical trials early in 2012. This was announced by the Spanish biopharmaceutical company Biofabri. The candidate was developed by the University of Zaragoza, Spain and is part of the international portfolio of TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI). Tuberculosis causes almost two million deaths per year.

During a press conference Biofabri’s CEO Esteban Rodriguez explained that the first batch of the vaccine is now available for toxicity studies. After the results of these studies have been assessed by the European Medicines Agency, responsible for accrediting and authorising, the candidate will move to Phase I of clinical trials in humans. Phase I studies are conducted in small groups of healthy adults to check if the new vaccine can be given without any serious side effects or reaction and that it produces a good immune response. If the results are positive the vaccine candidate will move on to Phase II.

MTBVAC01, designed by TBVI’s research partner Carlos Martin of the University of Zaragoza, could replace the current BCG vaccine. It is the first and leading attenuated live vaccine globally. The results from the laboratory predict a firm protection against TB; this has to be proven in the coming years.

The research team, which has spent four years working on this project, aims to produce a vaccine that will be ‘universally accessible’, protecting millions of people around the world. According to the project’s scientific director Carlos Martin, the disease is becoming more resistant to antibiotics. Tuberculosis is the most important cause of death among people with HIV infection.

More News
19 Mar 2024
For World TB Day 2024, the WGND is spotlighting a monumental achievement in TB drug research and development: the Global TB Drug Pipeline has never been bigger than it is today. The number of drug candidates being clinically evaluated for use in the treatment of adult pulmonary TB has surpassed...
3 Aug 2023
The Working Group on New TB Drugs, in collaboration with the New Diagnostics Working Group, Working Group on New Vaccines, FIND, IAVI, and TB Alliance, is co-hosting a New Tools Summit at the Marriot Champs Elysée Hotel in Paris, France on Tuesday, 14 November 2023. The WGND Annual Meeting will be...
23 Aug 2022
The PAN-TB collaboration announced initial plans for a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating two novel drug regimens to treat Tuberculosis. Sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the PAN-TB, or “Project to Accelerate New Treatments for Tuberculosis”, collaboration brings together non-...