MinervaX, a privately held Danish biotech company, today (5th January) announced positive results from a Phase I trial in 240 healthy adult women with its protein-only GBS vaccine, targeting pregnant women for the prevention of life-threatening infections in newborns.
“We are delighted that MinervaX is developing a group B Strep vaccine. Group B Strep is the most common cause of severe infection in newborn babies and of meningitis in babies under 3 months, although most of these infections could be prevented. Despite the UK’s risk-based prevention strategy, the rates of these infections have increased for more than a decade.
A safe and effective vaccine is the ‘holy grail’ of GBS prevention and could protect more babies from GBS infection than any other strategy. It is urgently needed and I’m delighted that the results of the Phase I trial are so encouraging.
Sadly, a vaccine being available is still many years away and the UK needs to improve its prevention strategy now so that protective narrow-spectrum antibiotics can be targeted in labour to those who will benefit the most – women who are carrying group B Strep.”