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NIH pledges over $41 million for STI vaccine research
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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will award $41.6 million over 5 years to establish four research centers devoted to developing the first vaccines against the three nationally reportable sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, the NIH announced.
At the end of the 5 years, each center will be expected to identify at least one candidate vaccine against chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis that is ready to be tested in clinical trials, the NIH said.
The United States has seen sustained increases in the three infections in recent years, including a record 2.3 million cases in 2017.
“STI research has recently evolved rapidly on multiple fronts, and this new knowledge can now be applied to a critical remaining challenge — the development of safe and effective vaccines for diseases that pose significant and growing public health burdens,” NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said in a statement.
According to the NIH, one center at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine will receive up to $11 million over 5 years to study syphilis. Georgia State University and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, will be awarded up to $9.25 million and $10.7 million, respectively, over the course of the program to study gonorrhea, and the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill will receive up to $10.7 million to study chlamydia.
Reference:
NIH. NIH awards will advance development of vaccines for sexually transmitted infections. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-awards-will-advance-development-vaccines-sexually-transmitted-infections. Accessed May 9, 2019.
Disclosure: Fauci reports no relevant financial disclosures.