The Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) has been awarded a €5.15m grant from the Wellcome Trust to develop a bivalent vaccine for typhoid fever.
The €5.15m grant will fund preclinical development and Phase I and II studies for a vaccine that protects against S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A.
Novartis chairman and CEO Dr Daniel Vasella said that the vaccine will ultimately have the potential to eradicate this disease.
“The bivalent vaccine being developed by NVGH will use a novel approach to increase efficacy and address the needs of patients that other vaccines have not,” he said.
The vaccines currently available for S. Typhi do not protect infants and young children. S. Paratyphi A is a growing problem causing 25–50% of all typhoid cases.
