The finish line is just around the corner

The hepatitis C vaccine will appear within five years

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

The first phase of clinical trials will start next year, and from 2026 it is planned to start using it for the most vulnerable groups of the population. Although hepatitis C is curable, the asymptomatic course of the disease and late diagnosis significantly reduce the favorable outcome. It is estimated that the economic benefits from the introduction of the vaccine will be enormous.

The timing of the introduction of the hepatitis C vaccine was told by its author Michael Houghton, who in 1989 received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Currently, his team is developing a vaccine aimed at the production of various antibodies, writes EurekAlert. Its purpose is to block any opportunities for the virus to evade the immune response.

Every year, the hepatitis C virus affects up to 2 million new patients, in total, about 70 million people are carriers in the world, and the mortality rate is about 400 thousand per year.

Since some infected people are unaware of the HCV carrier, their infection slowly leads to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Scientists and doctors are tasked with reducing the number of new HCV infections by 90% and mortality by 65% by 2030. Targeted antiviral drugs play an important role in achieving these goals, but the development of a vaccine is necessary for effective prevention of viral infection.

"We are developing an adjuvant recombined vaccine that will induce the production of antibodies to a variety of neutralizing epitopes to make it difficult for the virus to escape from the immune response," the authors explain.

Starting next year, it is planned to launch the first phase of clinical trials, which should be completed by 2026/2027. During the same period, it is planned to introduce it for the most vulnerable groups of the population.

Then scientists will investigate its effectiveness for children born to mothers with HCV.

Speaking about the cost-effectiveness of using the vaccine, Houghton cites data for Canada. Thus, the treatment of hepatitis C patients with antiviral drugs for ten years or more is estimated at about $ 0.8 billion, and the cost of a vaccine for the same number of patients will be about $ 20 million.

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