Lyme’s Disease vaccine in third phase of testing

Photo courtesy CDC

By Linda Cicoira

Something that could be vital to the lives of Eastern Shore of Virginia residents is happening in Duncansville, PA.

A Lyme disease vaccine is in its third phase of testing for the first time since another vaccine was pulled from the market 20 years ago. A clinical trial is underway.

Researchers are reportedly seeking thousands of volunteers to test the vaccine. The Pfizer study will span two tick seasons. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites insurance records suggesting about 476,000 people are treated for Lyme in the U.S. each year.

The black-legged ticks carry the disease’s bacteria. The infection initially causes fatigue, fever and joint pain. Often, the first sign is a red, round bull’s-eye rash. “Often” is not always, so don’t think you are clear because no rash has occurred.

SmithKline Beecham won approval for a Lyme vaccine in the late 1990s. The company pulled it a few years later. In 2002, The New York Times reported that the vaccine, Lymerix, had $40 million in sales in its first year on the market with hundreds of thousands vaccinated. After that though, it was projected that fewer than 10,000 people would seek vaccination. The company ended sales because ”there’s just no demand.”

Around the same time, Pasteur Mérieux Connaught, now Sanofi, a global health care company, dropped its plans to seek approval for a Lyme vaccine.

Early antibiotic treatment is crucial to fight Lyme Disease. It is sometimes hard to realize one has been bitten since the ticks can be extremely tiny. Untreated Lyme can cause severe arthritis and damage the heart and nervous system. Some people have lingering symptoms even after treatment.

Most vaccines work after people are exposed to a germ. The new Lyme vaccine reportedly offers a different strategy. It works a step earlier to block a tick bite from transmitting the infection. It targets an “outer surface protein” of the Lyme bacterium called OspA that’s present in the tick’s gut. It’s estimated a tick must feed on someone for about 36 hours before the bacteria spreads to its victim. That delay gives time for antibodies that the tick ingests from a vaccinated person’s blood to attack the germs right at the source.

In addition, University of Massachusetts scientists are working on a vaccine alternative, shots of pre-made Lyme-fighting antibodies. At Yale University, researchers are in early stages of designing a vaccine that recognizes a tick’s saliva, which in animal testing sparked a skin reaction that made it harder for ticks to hang on and feed.

.