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First-in-human study of CMV vaccine HB-101 starts

Posted: 20 July 2016 | | 3 comments

Hookipa Biotech has announced the start of a first-in-human study to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of HB-101 against human cytomegalovirus…

Hookipa Biotech has announced the start of a first-in-human study to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of its vaccine candidate, HB-101, against cytomegalovirus (CMV).

HB-101

CMV is part of the herpes family of viruses. Once infected, the CMV virus stays in the body for the rest of a person’s life. In most cases it remains inactive and does not cause further problems, however, CMV is one of the most significant viral pathogens during pregnancy and in immunocompromised patients.

HB-101 is a bivalent vaccine containing two recombinant, replication-deficient lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (rLCMV) vectors, one expressing the pp65 protein and one a truncated gB protein of cytomegalovirus. HB-101 is based on Hookipa’s viral vector platform, Vaxwave, which can be applied repeatedly to boost the immune system and stimulate both potent B-cell and CD8+ T-cell immune responses.

First cohort dosed

The Phase I study will recruit a total of 54 healthy, male and female subjects, negative for CMV. The primary endpoint of the study is safety. Secondary endpoints are humoral and cellular immune responses induced by the vaccine. Enrolled as three successive cohorts of 18 volunteers, each cohort will receive either a low, medium or high dose of the vaccine, or placebo. The vaccine will be administered intra-muscularly at day 0, month 1 and month 3. The first cohort has already received the low dose. Enrolment of the second cohort will start shortly.

The trial will run for 15 months, with interim immunogenicity data expected later this year and in early 2017.

Commenting on the news, Jörn Aldag, CEO of Hookipa, said “Development of a CMV vaccine has been ranked at the highest priority by the US Institute of Medicine. Obtaining approval for the first-in-human study of our HB-101 vaccine, and the commencement of the clinical trial is an important milestone for Hookipa, and provides validation of our Vaxwave viral vector platform. The trial follows strong preclinical data for HB-101 and we are confident that this will be reflected in the outcome of the study.”

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3 responses to “First-in-human study of CMV vaccine HB-101 starts”

  1. abhi says:

    i think mostly will be used as prevention. not sure if it will be useful for the people who are already infected. anyways we can be hopefull may be something in near future

  2. Olivier says:

    Hello Laura.
    I am not working on HB-101 but I think this work would not help him. In fact, the damages from the viruses are already done and a vaccine can’t help him. The vaccine could be given to mothers before they are pregnant to avoid the vertical transmission to foetus.

  3. Laura Martin says:

    My son was born the CMV. Did not find this out till he was 7. Got implanted with Cochlear Implants and is now 23 and doing marvelous. Obviously there wasn’t much known about CMV back then and there was no vaccines to try. If this works would it help him in any way or is it just given to youngsters?

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