Published Date: 1998-05-26 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> Lyme disease vaccine progress - USA
Archive Number: 19980526.1010
LYME DISEASE VACCINE PROGRESS - USA
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See Also
Lyme Borreliosis website 970218115111Lyme Disease, 1982-1996 - USA 970623112544
Lyme Disease, 1994-1996 - USA 970614113016
Lyme disease - Canada (02) 970824004400
Lyme disease - Canada (03) 970825153557
Lyme disease - Canada (Saskatchewan) 970822013459
Lyme disease - Canada (Saskatchewan) (02) 970825101147
Lyme disease - Canada (Saskatchewan): CORRECTION 970825102714
Lyme disease - Canada (Saskatchewan):NOT (03) 970827095820
Lyme disease: new list 971221002242
Lyme disease: new list (correction) 971225002046
Lyme disease list & website 970617173514
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 17:34:12 -0500
From: Martin Hugh-Jones <mehj2020@vt8200.vetmed.lsu.edu>
Source: News media
FDA Looks at Lyme Disease Vaccine
WASHINGTON -- A warm winter and lots of rain had health officials reporting
an unusual increase in ticks early this spring, and experts already have
environmental evidence that 1999 will bring an even larger population of
ticks that carry Lyme and other serious diseases. With parts of the country
facing a bumper crop of disease-bearing ticks this summer and even more
predicted next year, the government this week considers the first vaccine to
protect against Lyme disease. It's not a panacea: the vaccine won't prevent
all Lyme disease, requires over a year to build up immunity, and nobody yet
knows how often people will need booster shots.
In regions where fear of Lyme disease is so great that many people head for
a doctor as soon as they spot a tick, public anticipation is high as the
Food and Drug Administration prepares to debate Tuesday whether SmithKline
Beecham's LYMErix vaccine is safe and effective enough to sell.
SmithKline's LYMErix, and a similar vaccine being developed by Pasteur
Merieux Connaught, promise the first immune protection. The shots create
antibodies that recognize an outer protein of the Lyme bacterium in a tick's
saliva, called Osp-A, and neutralize it. Unlike typical vaccines that work
once an infection is inside the body, the Lyme vaccine essentially blocks
the bacteria's transmission at skin level. On Tuesday, SmithKline
researchers will tell the FDA's scientific advisers that a study of almost
11,000 adults given either LYMErix or dummy shots showed the vaccine was
about 80 percent effective.
There are caveats: It took three doses, the last given a full year after the
first, to achieve maximum protection. SmithKline still is studying how often
people will need booster shots. It worked better in people under 65. Studies
in children, most at risk of Lyme because they spend more time at ground
level, are just beginning. And if the FDA ultimately approves LYMErix, that
doesn't mean the vaccinated can get careless about ticks. It's not 100
percent effective and ticks carry more than Lyme.
SmithKline hasn't announced a price for LYMErix, and government researchers
say routine vaccination may prove cost-effective only for the high risk
individual -- like park rangers or frequent campers in Lyme-infested areas,
but not city lovers.
NIH says scientists are trying to develop more effective vaccines. While
LYMErix just blocks transmission, the NIH is funding studies into ways to
kill Lyme bacteria that sneak past that barrier.
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