Investigational TB vaccine to be tested

Nonprofit biotech company Aeras has announced the initiation of a randomized controlled trial to test a tuberculosis vaccine candidate in adolescents, according to a news release. Using a new trial design, researchers from the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) will test for infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) as a marker of the vaccine’s efficacy, producing faster clinical results that could possibly lead to larger randomized trials. The trial also is designed to evaluate the efficacy of the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine. “For the first time in a TB vaccine trial, we will be testing for infection by Mtb, rather than waiting to measure the occurrence of clinical disease, which is more expensive and requires much larger studies,” Thomas G. Evans, MD, president and CEO of Aeras, said in the release. “This will enable us to obtain results much more quickly and with fewer subjects, and the data we generate will ensure...