Microscience's Phase II Typhoid Vaccine Programme in South East Aisia was Awarded £1.95 Million

24-Mar-2005

Microscience PLC announced 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.

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