Milestone in clinical trial of improved TB vaccine developed in Oxford

4th May 2011

The two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-fourth baby has been vaccinated in South Africa as part of a clinical trial of a new vaccine against tuberculosis. The new TB vaccine is the most advanced in development anywhere in the world.

That’s the last baby in the trial, and marks completion of trial enrolment almost two years to the day after the study was first announced.

‘We are extremely proud of this achievement and are eager to see the study results, which are expected to be available in 2012,’ says Dr Helen McShane, who developed the vaccine at the Jenner Institute, Oxford University. ‘This milestone brings us a step closer to potentially having a new TB vaccine, from which millions of people around the world would benefit.’

The trial is being conducted by the University of Cape Town’s South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), in partnership with Aeras, the Wellcome Trust, and the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd (a joint venture between the University of Oxford and Emergent Biosolutions Inc formed to develop the vaccine).

Oxford University Innovation Ltd exclusively licensed the MVA85A vaccine and related technology to OETC Ltd. in 2008.

More details of the consortium formed to develop the vaccine can be found here and news of the clinical trial progress is reported on the University of Oxford website.

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