The first patient has been dosed with a vaccine for the tropical disease schistosomiasis, developed by Seattle biotech company PAI Life Sciences.
The phase 1 trial will assess the safety and immune response in healthy volunteers at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
Schistosomiasis, also called snail fever, is caused by parasitic flatworms that enter human skin in contact with contaminated water. Long term infections can cause damage to livers and kidneys, infertility, and bladder cancer.
While treatments are available, a vaccine would build up the arsenal against the disease, which affects almost 240 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Treatment often doesn’t shield against symptoms, including headache and malaise, and many people experience recurrence, said PAI CEO Darrick Carter.
The condition “is second only to malaria among parasitic diseases with the greatest devastating economic impact,” said PAI’s vice president Sean Gray in a statement Monday announcing the trial initiation. Many vaccine candidates have been tested, but “few have offered any significant protection,” said Gray.
The new protein-based vaccine can confer protection for up to eight years in primates, and antibodies are transmitted from mother to child, said Carter.
