Bharat Biotech’s Chikunguniya vaccine enters Phase-1 clinical trials

Hyderabad: The Bharat Biotech’s potential vaccine to prevent Chikunguniya (CHIKV) has entered Phase-1 human trials to evaluate its safety, tolerability and immunogenicity. The placebo-controlled study involves 60 healthy volunteers.

The candidate vaccine was approved by the Drug Controller General for Phase-I clinical trials in 2016. The company developed the vaccine using an isolate of the virus from Indian epidemic. The in-activated version was made by the in-house research and development scientists. It was found safe and immuno-genic in pre-clinical animal tests, according to a press release.

Bharat Biotech had filed patent for CHIKV in 2007 and followed it up with a second one in 2011. Patents have been granted in US, Europre, China, Indonesia, South Africa and the vaccine is in national phase in several other countries.

Chikunguniya, according to the WHO, has been identified in 60 countries. It is a viral disease, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.