Clinical trial of new TB vacc...( testing and vaccine characterization a...),Health

"We are within reach of new vaccines that could not only save millions of lives, but achieve the longstanding goal of bringing TB under control in the developing world," said Dr. Jerald Sadoff, President & CEO of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, which is sponsoring the human trial with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "This is the first step in using modern vaccines to defeat this global pandemic."

The bacterium that causes tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis currently infects 2 billion people worldwide, and is the leading killer of people infected with HIV. TB is an airborne bacterial disease that can spread through the lungs to the bones and the brain. Most forms of TB can be treated with drugs, but the complex regimen takes at least six months to complete, and medicine is not always available in developing countries.

The current clinical trial will enroll 30 healthy adults in the U.S. to test the safety of the vaccine and the immune response it provokes. After the trial has been completed, a similar study will be conducted in South Africa, where Aeras has developed a clinical trial site for TB vaccine studies.

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Contact: Rachel Champeau
rchampeau@support.ucla.edu
310-794-2270
Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation
17-Feb-2004