Green Signal for Zika Trial in Humans : Inovio Pharma gets permission to test Zika vaccine
More development regarding Zika Virus.
After the overwhelming news that scientists have found a potential cure for the Zika virus and other such flaviviruses, on the other side, drug developer Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc and its partner GeneOne Life Sciences Inc have manufactured vaccines against Zika and have said that they have received approval from U.S. regulators to start an early stage human trial testing their Zika vaccine.
The early-stage study will enroll 40 healthy subjects and evaluate safety, tolerability and immune response generated by the vaccine GLS-5700.
“We plan to dose our first subjects in the next weeks and expect to report phase I interim results later this year,” Inovio CEO J Joseph Kim said.
In February, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a global public health emergency. The virus has been associated with microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an unusually small head and potential developmental problems.
Last week, U.S. health officials reported three babies born with birth defects likely linked to Zika infection in the mother during pregnancy.
French drugmaker Sanofi SA is likely to begin testing its own vaccine in
humans next year.India’s Bharat Biotech is another company that is in the race to develop a vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease.
