Making therapeutic vaccination against chronic viral hepatitis a reality

Important results from the project

When the project started no effective treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was available. Thus, the goal was to develop an effective therapeutic vaccine. The project was intended to develop vaccine candidates and routes of administration to the stage of being ready for toxicological studies in preparation for a clinical testing. These goals have been achieved and the protocols for both toxicological testing and clinical trial have been developed. Finally, we have produced two plasmids according to GMP whereby all project goals have now been met.

Expected long term effects

The new vaccine has a much better effect than the vaccine we have previously developed and tested in humans. Especially in transgenic mouse models that better resemble a human with chronic HCV infection, we see that the new vaccine has an improved effect. This has now been combined with our improved ways to administer DNA vaccines, and together, these work very well. We have also produced vaccine components without problems according to GMP standard. The project has also generated eight patent applications, of which four are now approved patents. Thus, exploitation has worked well.

Approach and implementation

The project design has been clear and not encountered problems. The partners have had distinct tasks without overlap whereby any individual expertise has been maximally utilized. Day to day communication through email and telephone was supplemented by physical meetings 1-2 times/year. Sub-projects have been carried out without major problems. Partners have continuously been discussing the patent strategy and the suggested patent counsel has been frequently used. Several publications have been generated and additional are under way. Overall, the project has been successful.