The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first human tests of an experimental Zika virus vaccine, the makers of the drug announced on Monday.
Called GLS–5700, the medication will be used in a clinical trial involving 40 healthy people, and represents the first major step towards ultimately immunising people against Zika – which was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in February.
“We are proud to have attained the approval to initiate the first Zika vaccine study in human volunteers,” said J. Joseph Kim, president and CEO of US-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals, which is developing the vaccine with South Korean partner, GeneOne Life Science. “We plan to dose our first subjects in the next weeks and expect to report phase 1 interim results later this year.”
GLS–5700 works by stimulating the body’s immune system to defend itself against Zika. Synthetic fragments of viral DNA are injected into the skin, prompting the immune system’s T cells to generate antibodies to fight the infection.