Cuban researchers have developed the first synthetic vaccine against a bacteria that causes pneumonia and meningitis in a breakthrough aimed at lowering the cost of immunising children in poorer countries.
The vaccine protects against haemophilus influenzae type b, a bacteria that causes upper respiratory infections, mainly in children up to five years of age.
The disease is a leading cause of meningitis, an infection of the brain and spinal cord coverings that can cause brain damage, deafness or death. The research on the new vaccine , which has already been tested and put into production in Cuba , was presented yesterday to experts from the world over at a biotechnology congress in Havana.
This is the first vaccine for humans made with a chemically produced antigen, Cuba says. The available, conventional vaccine is made using a difficult and more costly process of growing antigens in a bacterial culture.
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"It took us six years," said Dr. Vicente Verez, head of the University of Havana's Synthetic Antigens Laboratory. "But what could be more precious for society than to have healthy two-month-old babies," he said. Poor nations that depend on multinational pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine - now costing $3 a dose - will now have a less expensive alternative, Dr Verez said.
The disease has been almost erased in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. But it remains a problem in developing countries where the cost of the vaccine has been a barrier to widespread immunisation.
Clinical trials conducted in Cuba showed a 99.7 percent success rate in developing the required antibodies. The technology for the new vaccine was patented in 1999 by the University of Ottawa and the University of Havana.