Scientists are beginning two new clinical trials on the next-generation anthrax vaccine, the U.S. Defense Department announced yesterday (see GSN, July 7).

Three government agencies, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program, are collaborating on a clinical study at the University of Maryland, the Pentagon said in a release.  That study is designed to advance other developing vaccines, according to Lydia Falk, the director of the Office of Regulatory Affairs in the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at NIAID.

“We can begin to compare the responses we see in humans to what had been observed in animals,” Falk said.  “That’s a critical part of the development of these vaccines.  The more preliminary investigative work that we can do, the more it benefits the entire field.  Our hope is that the information we gain will be able to add to those building blocks that would lead to an accelerated development plan,” she added.

A British company, Avecia, is under contract with NIAID to begin clinical trials soon on a recombinant protective antigen vaccine.  The trial is using a single, harmless component of anthrax to produce the vaccine, effectively eliminating risk to the subject (Karen Fleming-Michael, U.S. Defense Department release, July 10).

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