The first participant has received a dose of a new Zika virus vaccine being trialled by the University of Liverpool at the Clinical Research Facility within the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, based on work at The University of Manchester.
Although now not as prevalent as during its peak in 2016, Zika remains an ongoing threat, with thousands of cases of the mosquito-borne virus reported each year, mainly in countries close to the equator. Pregnant women continue to be the population at highest risk for the infection as the virus can cause severe foetal birth defects.
The vaccine originates from a 2016 Zika Rapid Response grant awarded to Dr Tom Blanchard (Consultant at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool) and colleagues in his former position at the University of Manchester, in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Dr Blanchard has since developed a number of iterations to enhance the vaccine’s effectiveness and manufacturing scale-up.
Liverpool researchers have been driving this project forward since 2017 despite the unanticipated challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has used an approach to develop a vaccine based on studies to understand immunity to Zika and other related viruses.
It’s hoped that the vaccine, designed to be suitable for use during pregnancy, will generate highly protective and long-lasting immunity. Having shown promising results in animal studies, the vaccine has now moved into a ‘first in human’ Phase I trial. If successful, the new trial could lead to a major breakthrough in tackling the Zika virus, for which there are still no approved vaccines or treatments available anywhere in the world.
Healthy volunteers recruited to the trial will receive two doses of the new vaccine to evaluate its safety, tolerability and its ability to produce an immune response. The vaccine will be assessed in groups of four volunteers at a time, with numbers increasing as evidence of safety accumulates. Up to 40 volunteers in this phase of work is planned which will be taking place over the next nine months. In addition, the performance of the vaccine will also be assessed in people who have had exposure to other viruses that circulate in the places where Zika virus is found, such as dengue virus, or yellow fever vaccine.
