TB vaccine could appear in 2025 – Sputnik V creator
A vaccine protecting against tuberculosis infection (TB) could appear in Russia as early as next year, according to Aleksandr Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
He made the announcement at the Healthy Life Forum 2024 in Moscow on Wednesday, claiming that the jab has already passed the third stage of clinical trials.
“If everything goes as planned, the country will have its own booster vaccine by mid-2025 that will protect people from infection,” Gintsburg told the audience, as quoted by media.
He specified that the drug is intended to be a one-time injection. Clinical trials have been ongoing for a long time, with those who have already received the vaccine now being monitored by medical specialists.
Gintsburg said previously that the new jab could potentially change the epidemiology of tuberculosis.
The new shot will reportedly enhance the effect of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, currently the only available tuberculosis jab, released over a century ago. The BCG vaccination only partially protects children from tuberculosis and does not protect adolescents and adults from the disease.
The Gamaleya-developed vaccine could reportedly be used not only for the prevention of tuberculosis but also for its treatment. There are currently no other dual-action drugs against mycobacterium tuberculosis in the world. Also, unlike its analogues, the vaccine stimulates the body’s immune response to both active and the so-called “dormant” bacteria.
Clinical trials have shown that the new vaccine does not cause side effects. Unlike BCG, the drug can be used when other diseases are present. It is compatible, for example, with HIV.
The Gamaleya Center is the creator of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, one of the first to be developed in the world in August 2020. The jab, which has shown up to 97.8% efficacy with no serious adverse events, has inoculated millions of people in the nearly 70 countries that have approved its use, including Argentina, India, Serbia, Hungary, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
