A Canadian university said July 19 it will conduct the world’s first
Zika vaccine test on humans as health authorities scramble to counter
the explosively spreading virus.
The Zika vaccine that’s under
development will be administered to humans “in the coming days,”
Universite Laval, based in Quebec City, said in a statement.
“We’re
very proud to be part of the first international team in the world to
complete all of the steps in the regulatory process,” said Gary
Kobinger, doctor of microbiology and professor of medicine at the
university, who is overseeing the study.
Kobinger noted that development of the Zika vaccine was authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada. Until now, vaccines have been tested on mice.
Zika
virus is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes and there is no existing
treatment or vaccine for it. The virus is capable of causing serious
birth defects and has traveled quickly through Latin America.
Kobinger,
a global authority on vaccines, is a researcher at CHU, a hospital
center affiliated with the university. CHU is conducting the study in
collaboration with two centers in the United States.
“CHU
de Quebec-Universite Laval is one of the three leading research centers
involved in the vaccine study and we’re very proud of that,” said
Gertrude Bourdon, president and CEO of CHU.
More
than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including France’s Sanofi and
India’s Bharat Biotech, are working on developing a Zika vaccine,
according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO has forecast sharp growth in the outbreak in the Americas, with as many as four million people infected.
