Quilimmune-P pneumococcal vaccine induces potent immune response in elderly.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antigenics, Inc., (AGEN) announced interim phase I results of its pneumococcal vaccine Quilimmune-P - a combination of a commercially available vaccine plus Antigenics' QS-21 adjuvant. The trial demonstrated that compared with currently available pneumococcal vaccines, Quilimmune-P stimulated significantly higher levels of immune response among elderly adults - a rapidly growing population at high risk for pneumococcal infection. The study findings were described in an oral presentation at the Fifth Annual Vaccine Conference of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

"With the number of older Americans expected to double to 70 million in the next few decades, the need for effective protection from diseases such as pneumococcal infection has never been greater," said John Treanor, MD, associate professor of medicine, and of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and lead investigator on the study. "By adding QS-21, we were able to improve on an existing formulation to create the first vaccine of its kind that is capable of stimulating robust immune response in an elderly population. We are hopeful this powerful response will translate into superior protective immunity as we advance Quilimmune-P through clinical development."

In the 5-month, phase I trial, 30 healthy, vaccine-naive subjects over the age of 65 were randomly assigned to one of ...