Clinical trials of Spanish tuberculosis (TB) vaccine MTBVAC have begun in India.
Vaccine maker Bharat Biotech is conducting the trials in partnership with Spanish biopharmaceutical company Biofabri that is responsible for clinical and industrial development of the vaccine developed in the laboratory of the University of Zaragoza with Dr. Brigitte Gicquel of the Pasteur Institute, Paris.
MTBVAC is the only vaccine against tuberculosis in clinical trials based on a genetically modified form of the pathogen isolated from humans Mycobacterium tuberculosis which, unlike the BCG vaccine, contains all the antigens present in strains that infect humans. While the trials to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of MTBVAC in India have begun, a pivotal safety, immunogenicity and efficacy trial is planned in 2025, Bharat Biotech said in an announcement coinciding with World Tuberculosis Day on March 24.
