Consortium to advance human hookworm vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa

Friday, September 27, 2013

The HOOKVAC consortium, led by the Academic Medical Center (AMC) at the University of Amsterdam, Thursday announced receiving a grant of 6 million Euros to develop and test a vaccine for human hookworm, a disease that infects 600-700 million of the world’s poorest people.

Under this grant, the HOOKVAC consortium, which includes partners from the European Union, United States and Africa, will begin the first clinical testing of the human hookworm vaccine in the West African nation of Gabon.

The HOOKVAC consortium will build on the clinical development of a safe and cost-effective hookworm vaccine by conducting clinical Phase I studies that test two previously identified lead candidate antigens, Na-GST-1 and Na-APR-1, in African adults and children.

Through previous funding received by the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership’s (Sabin PDP) Phase I clinical trials for the safety and efficacy of Na-GST-1 are underway in the U.S. and Brazil, and a U.S. clinical trial for Na-APR-1 began earlier this month.

Hookworm primarily infects people living below the global poverty line, particularly pregnant women and children in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Left untreated, hookworm causes internal blood loss leading to iron-deficiency anemia and malnutrition. Hookworm also contributes to physical and cognitive impairment, poor school performance and attendance, and low birth weights.

Source: Africa Science News (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
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public health, public-private partnerships