Scientists in Australia hope to have a vaccine for Zika before the end of the year

Published: 2-Feb-2016

Adelaide-based laboratory in partnership with biotech Sementis to use genetic engineering techniques to develop new vaccine


Researchers in Australia are confident of quickly finding a vaccine for the Zika virus following the development of a vaccine for a similar mosquito-borne disease.

A research laboratory at the University of South Australia in Adelaide is working with Melbourne-based biotech company Sementis to develop a vaccine to combat Zika, which is fast becoming a global health priority.

UniSA’s Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory in partnership with Sementis says it has developed a proven vaccine platform to quickly develop new vaccines for a range of viruses.

The team has already used the vaccine platform to create a protective vaccine for chikungunya virus.

Lab head Associate Professor John Hayball said he was confident his team could adapt the Sementis chikungunya vaccine for Zika virus – which the World Health Organisation has declared an international emergency – before the end of this year.

Zika is suspected of causing birth defects, has already been detected in 23 countries in the Americas including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, and could potentially infect three to four million people.

Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. Zika virus is spread by the same group of mosquitoes that spread the dengue and chikungunya viruses.

Using this vaccine platform, we use genetic engineering techniques to insert genes for antigens from different diseases

The Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory together with Sementis developed a protective vaccine for chikungunya virus late in 2015, and is finalising a contract for manufacturing clinical grade material with a full vaccine development process taking many years.

'The UniSA-Sementis team has taken the chikungunya vaccine all the way through pre-clinical studies and shown it’s 100% effective,' Hayball said.

'Using this vaccine platform, we use genetic engineering techniques to insert genes for antigens from different diseases. Now we’ve basically mastered this process … we could get up to the stage (with Zika) where we are at with chikungunya, which is basically generating a viral vaccine candidate that has been through all the pre-clinical testing that is required before we go off to a contract manufacturer by the end of this year.'

Hayball said the system his team has developed is 'rapidly deployed, rapidly adaptable, commercial production friendly and ultimately will be economical and we don’t need a cold chain for our vaccine, it can quite literally be carried in a backpack.'

He added: 'What we’re hoping to do here is not only prove that our approach is the best way to make vaccines for emerging infectious diseases, but that we can really make a difference with this urgent situation.'

In addition to starting vaccine development, Hayball is collaborating with the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute to uncover what mechanisms of the Zika virus might cause birth defects.

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