According to a joint announcement by Inovio Pharmaceuticals and GeneOne Life Science released on Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever trial of an experimental Zika virus vaccine on human test subjects. In the test, which will start over the next couple of weeks, 40 healthy human being will be injected with the vaccine to test its safety, tolerability, and resistance to the virus.
In the preclinical testing, the synthetic vaccine was given to both large and small animals. In response, the animals produced a large amount of antibodies, demonstrating the vaccine’s ability to fight the Zika virus.
This is the first-ever Zika virus vaccine to get approval for testing on human subjects. There are high hopes that if this vaccine is successful, it will curb the spread of Zika, which was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year.
This Zika virus vaccine was created collaboratively by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company, and GeneOne life Science, Inc., located in South Korea, and is a DNA-based vaccine. Usually, DNA-based vaccines are developed by isolating a snippet of the genetic blueprint of the disease researchers are trying to protect against. Researchers then inject the partial DNA into the person and use electrical pulses to get the human cells to accept it. If it does, then the body can break down the code of the disease and prime the immune system to fight against it if the full virus ever invades.
This DNA-based vaccine is more favorable than traditional vaccines in regards to protecting against Zika. Unlike traditional vaccines, which contain a watered-down version of the active virus, the DNA-based vaccine only contains a part of the virus, and therefore won't harm a treated woman's unborn child.
The Zika virus, which was first identified in Uganda two years ago, quickly began to spread to Asia, than the South Pacific, and then the Americas. The disease is spread by a common type of mosquito found all over the world, leading to concerns that the virus will not naturally stop reaching new countries anytime soon.
Since Zika mutated from being a regional threat to one that threatens 58 countries, about 20 businesses have been competing to get their vaccine on the market.
The most common symptom of Zika is fever, rash, and joint pain, but has been linked to severe birth defects if the mother is infected with Zika during pregnancy.
Even if this vaccine does work well in human testing, it could still take several years to demonstrate the vaccine is safe -- and that's assuming it's even effective.
But it's still encouraging that some vaccines are being given the green light for human testing. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is also expecting to receive FDA approval for another experimental Zika virus vaccine, totaling two possible vaccines in human trials. We can only hope that these human trials go well as to stop the spread.