The Infection Innovation Consortium, known as iiCON, is overseeing a groundbreaking £3.2 million Medical Research Council-backed study, aimed at advancing the development of a new vaccine targeting pneumococcal disease. This illness, notorious for high antibiotic resistance, is a leading cause of health problems across the globe.
Pneumococcal infections remain a pressing global health issue, imposing a substantial economic burden. It’s the top avoidable cause of death among children worldwide, with fatalities predominantly occurring in low- and middle-income nations. This continues despite the availability of effective vaccines against the most common serotypes in developed areas.
Serotype 3 pneumococcus (SPN3) is particularly challenging, as its incidence hasn’t significantly changed despite a decade of immunization campaigns with PCV13, leading it to become the prevailing strain in numerous regions. SPN3 currently stands as the primary cause of severe childhood pneumonia in Europe (Europneumo 2023), raising concerns owing to its high antimicrobial resistance rates. In Malawi, post-PCV13 introduction, SPN3 is the most prevalent community-carried strain; halting its carriage is urgent to curb resultant illnesses locally.
A proposed solution involves deploying a protein-based pneumococcal vaccine designed to thwart SPN3 transmission. This vaccine is intended for at-risk individuals and those with a heightened likelihood of passing the infection to others. In regions of high risk, key transmitting demographics include children and immunocompromised adults, especially those with HIV, who also face substantial antibiotic exposure. Preventing carriage in these groups could diminish antimicrobial resistance in pneumococcal strains.
iiCON collaborates with the niche vaccine creator, ImmBio, who devised PnuBioVax and previously completed successful phase I safety and immunogenicity trials. The ongoing phase II study involves recruiting young, healthy adults for a controlled human infection model (CHIM) trial in Malawi. Participants are vaccinated and then nasally inoculated to assess bacterial carriage, compared against the existing PCV13 vaccine and a placebo. CHIM trials for pneumococcal disease, pioneered at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, will be expanded in this trial, aligning with the £4.5 million MARVELS initiative at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme. MARVELS (Malawi Accelerated Research in Vaccines by Experimental and Laboratory Systems) champions CHIM studies on pneumococcus, salmonella, and TB, with pneumococcal CHIM leading the charge. Post-trial expectations include manufacturing and distributing low-cost vaccines within Africa.
Professor Stephen Gordon, iiCON’s director of experimental medicine, expressed: “We’re thrilled to have secured MRC funding to address this urgent health challenge in Malawi. This initiative not only saves lives but also contributes to local skill development and economic growth, as we hope the vaccine will be manufactured and distributed locally. Our aspiration is for the vaccine to cover multiple serotypes affordably, thereby disrupting community transmission efficiently.”
Graham Clarke, Chairman of ImmBio, shared: “We are excited to collaborate with iiCON on this venture, merging ImmBio’s vaccine innovation with iiCON’s unique clinical study capabilities. Our multi-protein vaccines hold promise for tackling pathogen diversity but require a regulatory-approved clinical pathway to meet crucial unmet healthcare demands.”
Established in 2020 with an £18.6 million UK Government grant, iiCON unites industry, academia, and medical professionals to hasten the discovery, development, and delivery of new interventions for infectious diseases, destined to save and enhance lives globally.