Plans underway to develop TB vaccines using rhPIV2 technology

Japan’s National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Aeras, and Create Vaccine Company will collaborate on the preclinical and clinical development of new mucosal tuberculosis vaccines using human parainfluenza type-2 vector technology, according to a recent press release.

Each year more than 8.6 million people are diagnosed with TB and about 1.3 million people die from the disease. In Japan, about 20,000 people contract TB and more than 2,000 die from it every year.

Multidrug-resistant strains of TB (MDR-TB, XDR-TB) have emerged and spread worldwide, causing significant economic burden on national health systems. Treatment for these drug-resistant strains can cost up to 200 times more than treating drug-susceptible TB.

“Based on the promising results of early research and the improved safety profile of candidates using this rhPIV2 [human parainfluenza type-2 vector technology] platform, we believe that this platform has great possibility. Further studies contribute to the ultimate goal of establishing a new vaccine strategy that can definitely prevent TB,” Yasuhiro Yasutomi, DVM, PhD, director of Tsukuba Primate Research Center at the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, said in the release.

The collaboration is supported by a grant from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund. Company officials said they hope to advance safety and immunogenicity testing in clinical trials by progressing vaccine candidates based on rhPIV2 technology during preclinical stages. To achieve these goals, the partnership will characterize new vaccine constructs with a variety of antigens, conduct immunology studies that identify promising new vaccines, and establish current good manufacturing practices.