UTMB to work with Brazil on Zika vaccine
One goal of team research focuses on clinical trials within 12 months
The University of Texas Medical Branch agrees to collaborate with Brazil on developing a Zika vaccine and finding other ways to fight the virus.
The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston has agreed to collaborate with the Brazilian Ministry of Health on developing a Zika vaccine and finding other ways to fight the outbreak of the virus.
A letter of intent announced Thursday could lead to a series of agreements between UTMB and Brazilian officials for work related to Zika, UTMB officials said.
“A vaccine is going to be the first priority,” said Dr. Mariano Garcia-Blanco, chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at UTMB, adding that he expects a formal agreement on the vaccine work to be approved soon.
Brazil has become the epicenter of a massive Zika outbreak affecting most of Latin America.
Transmitted primar- ily by mosquitoes, the virus causes mild or no symptoms in most people but has been linked to neurological complications and birth defects. It has also raised concerns in Harris County, which has many Hispanic residents who frequently travel to affected countries.
Public health officials have confirmed seven cases of Zika in Harris County, although all are thought to have been acquired internationally. One person in Dallas County has been infected through sexual contact with someone who acquired Zika abroad.
At a news conference, Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro announced the government will invest $1.9 million for the research to be conducted by UTMB and the Evandro Chagas Institute in the Brazilian
“The scientists would not feel comfortable saying that UTMB will make a vaccine in a year.”
Dr. Mariano Garcia-Blanco, UTMB department chairman
city of Belem, the Associated Press reported. The goal was to have a vaccine candidate ready for human clinical trials within 12 months, according to the report.
Garcia-Blanco tried to temper expectations regarding the schedule.
“The scientists would not feel comfortable saying that UTMB will make a vaccine in a year,” he said. “There is a certain amount of scientific work that will be finished in a year, and we will work extremely hard to get this done as soon as possible.”
Garcia-Blanco said other agreements could focus on efforts such as developing antiviral agents to treat those infected with Zika before they have been vaccinated.
Another Texas institution, the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, also may become more directly involved with Zika vaccine research and development.
Dr. Scott Lillibridge, the center’s chief scientist, told the Texas House Committee on Public Health on Wednesday that the U.S. government had contacted the center about working on a Zika vaccine candidate.
The center, built with $90 million in state funding and $170 million in federal money, is one of three government-funded biodefense centers designed to accelerate the research and development of vaccines and therapeutics in response to pandemic threats, and to rapidly manufacture these products in national emergencies.
‘Be ready’
“They told us to be ready, and they’re going to use some of the money that’s going to be appropriated, to begin pushing new vaccine candidates into the markets,” Lillibridge said.
Vaccines have been developed and licensed for a number of similar viruses including Dengue, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis.
But vaccine work is unpredictable and rarely can be pinned down to a specific time frame.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 12 groups are working on Zika vaccines. All are in the early stages of development, and availability of licensed products could take a few years.
A small percentage of those infected with Zika have developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an immune reaction that can follow viral or bacterial infections. Researchers will have to make sure any Zika vaccine doesn’t also trigger that reaction.
Coming to Texas?
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika virus domestically and internationally. The funds will be used to expand mosquito-control programs and to accelerate the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests, among other preparedness and education needs.
UTMB researchers have been collaborating informally with Brazilian counterparts since the Zika outbreak started last year. But the letter of intent announced Thursday will start to formalize that partnership and could give UTMB scientists easier access to samples, data and other resources in Brazil.
“I think it’s definitely going to help,” Garcia-Blanco said.
The collaboration in the midst of an outbreak in Latin America could help researchers prepare for an outbreak in Texas and the United States. The CDC has said that while Zika is unlikely to spread in the U.S. on the same scale as Brazil, small outbreaks with local transmission are expected.
“There are certain areas of the U.S. that are at risk right now, Florida for one, and there are areas that will be at risk when mosquito season begins and it gets warmer,” Garcia-Blanco said. “We are one of those areas, absolutely.”