The Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise, a national Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, is working with Vaxent in Memphis, Tenn., to conduct a clinical trial of StreptAnova.
The phase 1 clinical trial is set to prove that the vaccine is safe for humans. Three injections over six months will be given to 45 adults, who will receive a one-year follow-up.
Here are six things to know:
1. The goal of StreptAnova is to prevent group A streptococcal infections.
2. James B. Dale, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center invented StreptAnova, which is being commercialized by PREVENT and Vaxent.
3. The clinical trial will be held at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
4. Group A streptococcal diseases can range from streptococcal pharyngitis to invasive infections, toxic shock syndrome, necrotizing fasciitis, celluitis, sepsis and pneumonia.
5. StreptAnova is made of four recombinant proteins with protective peptides from 30 streptococcal serotypes.
6. Annually, there are 616 million global cases of pharyngitis caused by group A streptococci. There are 1,850 deaths annually in the Untied States from invasive group A streptococcal diseases.
"The availability of safe and effective multivalent GAS vaccine could address a huge unmet public health demand, preventing a wide variety of potentially life-threatening complications and diseases in humans worldwide attributable to this organism."" said Andrew Potter, MD, CEO of PREVENT and director of VIDO-InterVac at the University of Saskatchewan.
