Chikungunya vaccine candidate highly protective in phase 3 trial, Valneva says
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Valneva said Wednesday that its single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate induced protective neutralizing antibody titers in more than 96% of patients 6 months after vaccination in a phase 3 trial.
The trial assessed the vaccine, VLA1553, among 4,115 adults aged 18 years or older at 44 sites in the United States. Valneva said the trial met its primary endpoint, with the vaccine inducing protective neutralizing antibody titers in 98.9% of participants at 1 month (95% CI, 96.7-99.8) and 96.3% of participants at 6 months (95% CI, 93.1-98.3).
Valneva previously reported interim data from the trial last August.
“These final pivotal phase 3 results confirm the compelling profile of our single-shot vaccine candidate across all age groups,” Valneva Chief Medical officer Juan Carlos Jaramillo, MD, said in a press release. “Delivering these first-ever final phase 3 results for a chikungunya vaccine candidate means that we are a step closer to addressing a major, growing and unmet public health threat.”
According to the company, elderly study participants achieved equally high seroprotection rates and neutralizing antibody titers over time compared with younger adults.
Valneva said it plans to continue a dedicated antibody persistence trial for at least 5 years to monitor a subset of participants to confirm the anticipated long-term protection after a single vaccination.
Like dengue and Zika, chikungunya virus is spread by the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. There are currently no vaccines to prevent chikungunya or medicines to treat people infected with the virus, which can cause severe symptoms — including debilitating joint pain — but rarely leads to death.
The first indigenous outbreak of chikungunya in the Americas began in 2013 on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and spread to dozens of other countries, including the United States. Although no locally acquired cases occurred in the U.S. between 2016 and 2020, travel-associated cases were still frequently reported.
References:
CDC. Chikungunya in the US. https://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/geo/chikungunya-in-the-us.html. Accessed March 9, 2022.
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