Intercell prepares for launch of Japanese Encephalitis vaccine

Austrian biotech company Intercell expects to launch its novel Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccine in the US next year and in Europe in 2008, with the product eventually achieving sales of up to a potential Euro 300m a year.

The ceo, Gerd Zettlmeissl, said independent market analysts have estimated the investigational vaccine is likely to achieve annual sales of between €200-300m within four to six years of launch.

The company's confirmed expectation of market launch in the US next year and in Europe in 2008, comes after the biotech announced that a first analysis of immunogenicity Phase III clinical data showed positive results and met its primary endpoint in terms of both the amount of antibodies in the blood and the percentage of subjects reaching protective antibody titers. Intercell expects to start the filing process in the US shortly based on these results.

It is expected to be launched first in the US because of strong potential sales with the US military. As well as the travel sector, armies in Europe also represented a potential market.

The full Phase III clinical programme consists of several additional clinical trials, including a safety trial, a single-shot trial and a trial for travellers, all of which are expected to be completed by early 2007.

Zettlmeissl said he believed Intercell's JEV will replace the mouse-brain derived products currently on the market and that Intercell will be able to expand the market for this traveller vaccine significantly.

Intercell's JEV vaccine, which is produced at the biotech's plant in Scotland, is based on tissue culture rather than live organisms and does not contain any stabilisers or preservatives in its formulation, the company said.