PowderJect to start vaccine trial

PowderJect is to start clinical trials of a vaccine to combat hepatitis B as part of its continuing strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline.

Oxford-based PowderJect, through its subsidiary PowderJect Vaccines, will study the effectiveness of a DNA immunotherapeutic treatment to combat hepatitis B, the chronic viral infection.

The trial will involve 24 healthy volunteers and is designed to evaluate a range of different types of vaccination.

Each volunteer will receive three doses of a DNA-based vaccine administered by the company's PowderJectO needle-free system.

The study will then look at the what sort of responses the vaccine creates, both among antibodies and in cellular terms.

The ability of DNA vaccines to induce a cellular response is believed to be a crucial part of the battle to help the body fight off viral conditions, helping to build up natural immunities to viruses.

GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals giant created out of the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, is sponsoring the trial as part of a major collaboration with PowderJect in the field of DNA vaccines.

Dr Paul Drayson, chairman and chief executive of PowderJect, said: "The start of this study, which marks the beginning of our programme to develop a further effective treatment for hepatitis B, in addition to the clinical success we have achieved to date, clearly demonstrates the progress we are making."

The two firms first struck the strategic alliance in March 1998 and have been working since then to develop DNA vaccines that can be administered by the PowederJectO system.