The vaccine technology used to fight COVID-19 could soon protect people from another deadly respiratory virus, and trials are underway to determine whether it might also be effective against cystic fibrosis and melanoma.
for respiratory syncytial virus – a highly contagious infection that can be life-threatening to babies and the elderly – could be in medical clinics before the end of the year.results from a large, late-stage clinical trial of its RSV vaccine: it was 83.7 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic RSV in older adults. Trials of the vaccine in pregnant women and infants are now underway.
“One hundred per cent, I support a vaccine. Anyone who saw a child struggle like that would agree with me.” And mRNA – or messenger ribonucleic acid – comes with a big unknown: how long will it provide protection? These vaccines introduce an enemy to train the immune system, essentially the same thing as older technologies. The next diseases on the hit-list take advantage of mRNA’s ability to do things other drugs can’t.
“They told me they couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t come back in my lungs or brain – and if it comes back there that’sWeeks before her jab, scientists sliced out a chunk of her tumour and sequenced the genetic mutations driving the cancer: the mRNA contained those genetic codes in a trial of what scientists call a “personalised cancer vaccine”.
In December, Vertex announced the launch of a clinical trial of inhaled mRNA for cystic fibrosis. The vaccine will hopefully instruct the lung cells to make new copies of a missing or faulty, but crucial, protein.
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