Recombinant vaccine against Herpes simplex virus type 2 data

CHIR reported at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy that its vaccine reduced duration and severity of outbreaks of genital herpes, but as was previously announced in January, the primary end point of the trial was not reached. The primary end point was a reduction in the number of outbreaks. Studies to determine if the vaccine can prevent herpes in non-infected people are underway.

In the Phase III trial in 202 patients who were having a median of 7 outbreaks a year, symptoms lasted 4.9 versus 6.7 days (p=0.002), new lesions formed for 4.1 versus 6.9 days (p=0.04), and healing took 6.8 days versus 8.8 days (p=0.004), after two doses of the vaccine versus placebo. These measures were taken for the first recurrence after the first immunization. The benefit was judged to be equivalent to the use of antiviral medication. Side effects included fever. ...