IDRI Launches Trial of Visceral Leishmaniasis Vaccine

The Phase 1 clinical trial will enrol 36 adult volunteers. They will be randomly assigned to receive one of three versions of the vaccine.

The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) in Seattle has launched the first clinical trial of a new vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL).

The Phase 1 trial is taking place in Washington State, with a companion trial planned in India, an epicentre of the disease. In India, VL is known as kala-azar, a Hindi word that means black fever, named after the fever that ravages affected individuals, whose skin becomes dark grey.

Steve Reed, IDRI founder and chief scientific officer, who led the preclinical vaccine work for more than 20 years, said, ‘Our partnership with India will speed the development of an effective vaccine and accelerate its control.’

The IDRI vaccine,