Funding from EDCTP will allow testing of a novel whole-cell inactivated oral vaccine in clinical trials in Europe and Africa
The European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) and Hilleman Laboratories today announced that a multidisciplinary, international consortium coordinated by EVI has now received support from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to advance a safe, efficacious and affordable Shigella vaccine being developed by Hilleman Laboratories. The project will be funded by EDCTP through a grant of €8.6 million.
Shigellosis is an acute enteric infection caused by consumption of food and water contaminated with bacteria from the genus Shigella. It is one of the leading causes of diarrhoea resulting in 165 million cases each year, and more than 212,000 deaths in all age groups. Despite its importance as a cause of major disease burden, there is still no vaccine available for use against Shigella.
“Through this project we aim to further develop a novel oral vaccine against Shigella that we expect will cover the commonly isolated pathogenic strains of this bacteria."
Other partners in the project are Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands, the Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, Burkina Faso, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Zambia, and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
For full news release please see following press release.