A new hepatitis C vaccine has shown promising results in an early clinical trial at Oxford University, generating strong and broad immune responses against the virus causing the disease.
The vaccine was found to be very safe and well tolerated in the 15 healthy human volunteers who took part in the phase 1 safety trial.
A trial to test the efficacy of the vaccine is now underway among intravenous drug users in two sites in the USA. It is the first hepatitis C vaccine to reach this stage of clinical trials.
The aim is to see if the vaccine is able to offer any protection from infection in this group at high risk of hepatitis C compared with placebo.
‘The size and breadth of the immune responses seen in the healthy volunteers are unprecedented in magnitude for a hepatitis C vaccine,’ says principal investigator Professor Ellie Barnes of the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford University.
The Oxford University team, with colleagues from the Italian biotechnology company Okairos (now part of GSK) and Stanford University in the USA, have published their results in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Read the complete Oxford University news release HERE
Can I be a candidate I was given tainted blood in 1992 after a very extensive surgery I have no insurance or money but like anyone I want to live but not having insurance no gastroenterologist will see me it took 21 years for me to find out I had hepatitis c and I’m at a critical state if you can’t help me can you please give me someone who can. Thanking you in advance C.