Healthcare
Wellcome Trust support for Drinkable Typhoid Vaccine Programme
By Wellcome Trust, UK
Mar 31, 2005, 21:22

Microscience PLC announces that it has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Strategic Translation Award (STA) of �1.95 million to advance the clinical development of Microscience's drinkable typhoid vaccine programme. This is the largest single STA ever made by the Wellcome Trust.

Wellcome Trust STAs aim to provide vital financial bridging for important healthcare programmes and are awarded to researchers in fields of strategic importance to the Wellcome Trust and that address major unmet healthcare needs. The Microscience single-dose drinkable vaccine targets a significant medical need for both travellers to typhoid-endemic areas and the endemic population in large areas of the developing world.

Beginning in early 2005, Microscience, with this financial support from the Wellcome Trust, will undertake the next stage of the Phase II clinical development programme of its oral typhoid vaccine, set up a surveillance programme to determine demographics and disease prevalence in the region and prepare the field-site for the Phase III efficacy study. As the incidence of disease in typhoid endemic regions tends to be most prevalent in children, this population will form a key element of the Phase III efficacy study.

The programme will be undertaken in conjunction with the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam and Oxford University, UK. This long-standing collaboration focusing on infectious diseases important in Viet Nam has been funded by the Wellcome Trust since 1991.

The first study will evaluate safety and immunogenicity in adult volunteers in a controlled setting in Ho Chi Minh City and is planned to commence during the first half of 2005. Following the completion of this study, a series of age-descending Phase II studies will be carried out prior to the large-scale Phase III field study.

Previous trials with this drinkable vaccine in over 100 subjects in the US and UK showed it to be highly immunogenic at a single dose with a good safety profile.

Rod Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Microscience, commented:

"The sizeable grant awarded to Microscience by the Wellcome Trust is a clear recognition of the need for a new and effective typhoid vaccine and a significant endorsement of our proprietary approach. The STA investment and collaboration gives us the momentum needed to move into large-scale field studies. It will enable us to pursue a clear path to commercialisation for our typhoid vaccine, with the potential to address healthcare needs for both tourists and business travellers from Europe and North America as well as the needs of the developing world."

Dr. Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Oxford University-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Unit in Viet Nam, said:

�Typhoid is almost untreatable in parts of Viet Nam because of drug resistance. Therefore an easy-to-use vaccine like this could be of tremendous value in preventing infection in parts of the world where typhoid remains such an important disease.�

Dr Ted Bianco, Director of the Wellcome Trust�s Technology Transfer Division said:

�Our ultimate goal is to translate research into better healthcare and to facilitate the dissemination of new technologies to maximise the benefit to society globally. This vaccine trial is an excellent example of how we can assist in the development of a promising new product with a view to exploring its usefulness in areas beyond the main commercial markets but where the disease is a particular problem.�

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