Austrian Biotech Plans Zika Vaccine Clinical Trials in 12 Months

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

An Austrian biotech company working with the Institut Pasteur said on Tuesday it planned to start clinical trials with an experimental Zika vaccine in the next 12 months, marking a further acceleration of research in the field.

Themis Bioscience has signed a license deal with the French research institute giving it extensive rights to the Zika vaccine candidate, which is based on established measles vaccine technology.

More than a dozen small biotech firms and other organizations are working on vaccines against mosquito-borne Zika, which has been linked to birth defects and neurological disorders, although most work is at a very early stage.

Erich Tauber, chief executive of Themis, believes his company’s project will benefit from the proven track record behind the technology used to immunize against measles.

Source: Thomson Reuters (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
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infectious diseases, public health, vaccines