Herpes Vaccine Fails in Trials

herpes, test, trials, vaccine - By Rebecca Sinclair on Friday, October 1, 2010 - 11:05

An experimental herpes vaccine, Herpevac, proved ineffective in a recent clinical study in Belgium. The trial was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

A total of 8,323 women ages 18-30 throughout the 50 United States and Canada. Each woman was free of the herpes simplex viruses, HSV-1 and HSV-2. During the test, the women were divided into two groups: one group received the candidate vaccine and the second received vaccine against hepatitis A.

The second group was the control group. In an early study done on both men and women who did not have herpes but were sexually active with a partner who did, it appeared that the vaccine helped protect women. Thus the grounds for a second study done only in women.

Each volunteer was vaccinated at the beginning of the study and again one month and six months later. The participants were followed for 20 months after the initial injection and evaluated at each visit for HSV infection and genital herpes disease.

The vaccine’s effective was about 20%. HSV-1 and HSV-2 cause cold sores and genital herpes disease. It can be transmitted through sexual or other skin-to-skin contact, and can be spread even when the infected individual shows no symptoms. An estimated 1 in 4 women in the United States has genital herpes.

Photo by: West Point Public Affairs