Scientists looking for 480 people to test experimental anthrax vaccine

Scientists in Rochester and 11 other cities around the nation are beginning tests of an experimental vaccine aimed at protecting people against anthrax, a rare disease that, like smallpox, has become more threatening with the emergence of bioterrorism.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are seeking 40 volunteers from ages 18 to 55 for the study, which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Overall, doctors and nurses across the country hope to enroll a total of 480 people – 40 at each site – by the end of May.

For most of modern history anthrax has been a rare disease in people; it’s most likely to infect farmers, veterinarians, and people who work with animals or animal products. That all changed more than two years ago, when several envelopes containing anthrax spores that bore the hallmark of sophisticated processing were mailed, emptying several office buildings, infecting several people, and spurring the search for a better vaccine.

While an anthrax vaccine now exists and is used primarily to protect military personnel, it requires a cumbersome routine – six shots over 18 months, with a booster shot every year thereafter – for the vaccine to confer protection. The current vaccine also causes severe side effects.

Scientists are trying to develop a vaccine that works faster, with fewer shots and no annual booster, with fewer side effects. The vaccine under study, based on research by U.S. Army scientists and produced by California-based VaxGen Inc., requires two shots four weeks apart. Participants in the study will be monitored for one year as nurses and doctors record side effects and check the ability of the vaccine to rouse an immune response.

In addition to a vaccine that might protect more quickly, doctors are trying to determine if the vaccine under development will have fewer side effects than the current vaccine because it’s based on technology that results in a more purified product.

The work is the latest in a series of studies at Rochester aimed at protecting people against a potential bioterrorist attack. Two years ago the Rochester team, with the help of 170 volunteers from the Rochester area, showed that a diluted form of smallpox vaccine is just as effective as a full dose in protecting against the disease. And last year John Treanor, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit at the University, led a national team of scientists looking at how a booster shot affects the protection of people who have previously been vaccinated against smallpox. Results from that study have not yet been announced.

Anyone interested in participating in the anthrax study should call the vaccine unit at (585) 273-3990.

For more media inquiries, contact:
Tom Rickey
(585) 275-7954
[email protected]