The first phase of clinical trials of the “dry” tuberculosis vaccine showed that this form is not inferior in effectiveness to the live one, and besides, it is more convenient to store and transport. Maxim Maskin, the chief physician of the Gemotest laboratory, told Izvestia about this on Tuesday, March 7.
On the eve it became known that an international team of doctors completed the first phase of clinical trials of a “dry” vaccine against tuberculosis based on the ID93 vaccination. The aim of the study was to find out if the new vaccine has the same effect on the body as previously developed drugs that need to be frozen and refrigerated during storage. “Gazeta.Ru”.
As Maskin emphasized, tuberculosis has remained a serious problem for many years: every year more cases and deaths from this disease are recorded in the world than from COVID-19 at the peak of the pandemic. According to the doctor, the reason for such a prevalence of the disease is the low percentage of vaccinated people.
“A feature of the existing BCG tuberculosis vaccine is its dependence on ambient temperature. The drug easily loses its properties if storage conditions are violated, that is, it is quite difficult to transport it, especially to remote regions. In the case of the new vaccine, “dryness”, that is, dehydration, facilitates its delivery and storage. Already in the hospital, the drug is diluted with water for injection and injected to the patient with a syringe, ”he explained.
At the same time, as Maskin clarified, the technology of drug dehydration is not a breakthrough in the field of immunology. A lot of vaccines are produced and distributed in dry form, for example, against measles, chicken pox, tetanus, diphtheria, polio and other dangerous infections.
“It usually happens like this: first, specialists develop a live vaccine, and then they make its dry form. It’s not always easy—carrier proteins are often destroyed by dehydration. In terms of efficacy, in the first phase of clinical trials, scientists compared the new drug ID93 + GLA-SE and the classic BCG vaccine – the results in the control groups showed that the new development was 50% more effective. At the same time, the dry form is not inferior in efficiency to the live form, and besides, it is easier to store and transport,” the specialist noted.
However, the final conclusion can be made only after the completion of all stages of clinical trials, the doctor concluded.
On February 6, researchers from the University of Cambridge in England published the results of a study that found that over-the-counter drugs for treating heartburn, gastritis and reflux can shorten the duration of treatment for tuberculosis. The potential for repurposing readily available and cheap drugs to speed up TB treatment could have a major impact on global health, experts say. Scientists intend to continue research in this direction.
