On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a human trial for a Zika virus vaccine for the first time.
The vaccine is made by Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and GeneOne Life Science, of Seoul, South Korea. The working name for the vaccine is GLS-5700. The phase I trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in 40 healthy subjects. In preclinical animal models, the vaccine produced a robust antibody and T cell response.
J. Joseph Kim, PhD, CEO of Inovio, said, "We are proud to have attained the approval to initiate the first Zika vaccine study in human volunteers."
Federal health officials have previously stated that determining the efficacy of a Zika vaccine could take several years.
More articles on the Zika virus:
FDA authorizes emergency use of in-vitro devices to detect Zika
6 cases of Zika-related birth defects reported in US
Researchers on a medical road trip through Brazil are using mobile labs to track Zika