News Feature | July 2, 2014

Janssen Ally GlycoVaxyn Starts Phase 1 Trial Of UTI Vaccine

By Estel Grace Masangkay

GlycoVaxyn, a firm that specializes in the development of new conjugate vaccines, announced that it has initiated the Phase I clinical trial of a vaccine candidate created to combat infections caused by Extra-intestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), such as urinary tract infection (UTI). GlycoVaxyn and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, have teamed up to develop this investigational vaccine to fight these common infections. 

The glycoconjugate ExPEC vaccine was manufactured using GlycoVaxyn's proprietary biological conjugation platform and carries surface polysaccharide antigens sourced from the most predominant ExPEC strains. The placebo controlled, multi center, first-in-human Phase I clinical study will evaluate the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of the vaccine. The trial involves 180 women with recurrent UTI.

Dr. Veronica Gambillara, Head of Clinical and Regulatory affairs at GlycoVaxyn, said, “We are very excited and proud to have initiated this trial within a very short period of time following our announced collaboration with Janssen and we believe that such a vaccine will bring important health benefits to patients who are chronically affected by this infection.”

Urinary tract infection is one of the most common urological disease and one of the most frequent bacterial infections. Up to half of all women experience at least one UTI, while 10 to 15 percent have recurrent UTI. ExPEC bacteria, a leading cause of invasive E. coli infectious diseases, also cause 80 percent of community-acquired UTIs and around half of hospital-acquired UTIs. Growing resistance to antibiotics among ExPEC strains has been on the rise, and has been a key challenge to overcome for those looking to provide effective treatment for these infections.

GlycoVaxyn is currently in collaboration with Janssen as well as GlaxoSmithKline for the development of several vaccine candidates against common severe bacterial infections.