Experimental Lyme disease vax passes milestone
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Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
A Pfizer-led effort to develop the first new Lyme disease vaccine in more than two decades passed a key milestone last week, putting the drug on a timeline to potentially hit the market in 2026 if trial results are favorable.
Why it matters: Climate change is driving the proliferation of ticks and transforming Lyme disease from a summertime nuisance into the most common vector-borne illness in the Northern Hemisphere, affecting an estimated 476,000 people in the U.S. annually.
The latest: Pfizer and its French partner Valneva SE said participants in a late-stage trial completed the primary three-dose vaccination series of the VLA15 shot and will be monitored for cases until the end of the Lyme disease season in 2025.
- No safety concerns have been observed to date, and the companies are conducting a second late-stage trial on kids ages 5 to 17.
How it works: The protein-based vaccine targets the outer surface of the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause Lyme disease and inhibits the bacterium's ability to leave the tick and infect humans.
- Pfizer and Valneva entered into an agreement in 2020 to co-develop VLA15.
The big picture: The public has had to rely on antibiotics like doxycycline after a tick bite ever since the only approved vaccine against Lyme disease was pulled from the market in 2002 due to low sales stemming from adverse events.
- Pfizer and Valneva's effort hit rough waters early last year when the companies had to halt testing about half of their clinical trial participants due to problems with how the study was run by a third-party operator.
- Moderna is working on a pair of mRNA-based vaccines for Lyme disease it hopes can train immune cells to protect against the bacteria if someone is later bitten by a tick.
