PRESS RELEASE: Crucell Announces First In Man Study With New Adenovirus VectorLast update: 4/3/2008 8:01:12 AM
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Recombinant adenovirus 26 vector avoids pre-existing immunity and is
used in new HIV vaccine
Leiden, The Netherlands, 3 April 2008 - Dutch biotechnology company
Crucell N.V. today announced that the novel recombinant adenovirus
serotype 26 (rAd26) vector, which is jointly developed by Crucell and
the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), will be used in a
phase I clinical study to test a new HIV vaccine. The rAd26 vector
is specifically designed to avoid the pre-existing immunity to the
more commonly used adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), which has recently
shown limitations as an HIV vaccine vector.
The rAd26 vaccine is the first HIV vaccine candidate that emerges
from the Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development
(IPCAVD) program, which brings together researchers from academia and
industry in an effort to accelerate the development of promising
HIV/AIDS vaccines. Crucell, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the
BIDMC participate in this program, which is sponsored by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
The phase I clinical study will be conducted at the Brigham and
Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston and will focus on assessing the
safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine. The study will involve 48
healthy volunteers.
"The rAd26 vaccine vector has been selected for its particularly low
seroprevalence in humans and for its potential immunogenicity and
protective efficacy as was shown in preclinical studies", says Dan H.
Barouch, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine at BIDMC and HMS
and Principal Investigator in the IPCAVD program.
Jaap Goudsmit, Chief Scientific Officer at Crucell: "The rAd26
vector, as part of our AdVac® technology program, is designed to
overcome the problem of pre-existing immunity in humans against the
most commonly used recombinant vaccine vector, adenovirus serotype
5."
Antibodies to Ad5, a common cold virus, are widespread among people
of all ages and are known to lower the immune response to Ad5-based
vaccines, thereby impairing the efficacy of these vaccines.
"The rAd26 vector does not regularly occur in the human population
and antibodies to this vector are rare. The rAd26 vector therefore is
efficacious in eliciting good T and B cell responses", Goudsmit
continues. "We are excited about the first in man study of this newly
developed vector, that could provide a solution to the issues that
raised from previous HIV vaccine trials."