Vical Vaxfectin to be evaluated in HIV vaccine study

Vical Inc has formed a research collaboration with the Karolinska Institute, a leading European medical university, and the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI), a governmental expert agency, to evaluate Vical's Vaxfectin adjuvant with the Biojector 2000 needle-free injection system for a multivalent preventive DNA vaccine against HIV.

Eric Sandstrom, professor at the Karolinska Institute, said: "The results from our initial Phase 1 trial were quite good, with over 90% of subjects achieving detectable immune responses against HIV after the prime-boost vaccination. We hope to improve the breadth and magnitude of immune responses in the next clinical trial by using the Vaxfectin adjuvant with our DNA priming vaccine. We believe that continued development of HIV vaccines remains among the world's top healthcare priorities."

The Vaxfectin adjuvant is intended to optimise the priming of immune responses and increase the performance of, or potentially even eliminate the need for, the viral vector vaccine boost. The SMI is sponsoring the development.

The proposed Karolinska/SMI study would mark the first human test of a Vaxfectin-formulated vaccine delivered by needle-free injection into the skin. Intradermal delivery by needle-free injection and use of the Vaxfectin adjuvant may increase the immune responses to the vaccine.