Kenya to reap from third phase of TB vaccine trials
Kenya is among seven nations to benefit from tuberculosis vaccine trials recently launched in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute.
On Tuesday, the research institute commenced phase three clinical trials of the vaccine (M72/AS01E) to assess its efficiency and ascertain whether the vaccine can be certified for use. At least 20,000 TB patients including those living with HIV/Aids are expected to benefit from the trials which are already underway in South Africa.
Other countries expected to benefit include South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Indonesia and Vietnam.
“After dedicating over 20 years to developing this essential candidate vaccine, we at GSK are delighted that the Phase three trial is underway.
"Developing and ensuring access to global health products is complex but our collaboration with the Gates MRI, Wellcome and Gates Foundation exemplifies the transformative power of leveraging diverse partners’ expertise to change the trajectory of challenging diseases, like TB, which place a huge burden on communities around the world,” said Deborah
Waterhouse, the chief executive of ViiV Healthcare and President of the Global Health, GSK.
The vaccine candidate has been in development since the early 2000s. It was originally designed and clinically evaluated by the biopharma company, GSK, up to the proof-of-concept phase (Phase 2b), while partnering with Aeras and the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and was funded by GSK, and in part by the Gates Foundation.
In 2020, GSK announced a partnership with the Gates MRI for further development of the vaccine by providing technical assistance to the research institute by supplying the adjuvant component of the vaccine for the Phase three trial and will further provide the adjuvant post licensure should the trial be successful.
An adjuvant is an ingredient used in some vaccines to make it a stronger immune response.
If it proves to be well-tolerated and effective among the subject patients, the TB shots could potentially be the game changer in the fight against pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults, the most common form, and the first new TB vaccine in over a century.
New cases
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 10.6 million people were diagnosed with the disease in 2022 and 1.3 million died from it. This means, close to 3,561 people die daily.
Here in Kenya, between 150,000 to 160,000 new cases of TB are recorded annually, making the country one of the 30 nations with high burden of TB prevalence globally.
According to records from the health ministry, two in every five Kenyans unknowingly have TB which they continue to spread since they are not aware of their status.
The disease primarily affects people in low and middle-income countries, and those at highest risk are often living in poverty, with poor living and working conditions and under-nutrition.
