Three injections of a therapeutic vaccine may control genital herpes as effectively as daily pills for at least a year, a new study suggests.
Researchers tested the experimental vaccine in 310 people with herpes from 17 centers around the United States. The three shots, administered three weeks apart, appeared to reduce patients’ genital lesions and the process of “viral shedding” in which they can spread the disease through sexual contact.
Infectious disease experts hailed the vaccine as a promising development in the treatment of genital herpes. The incurable disease affects about one in every six people ages 14 to 49 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In general terms, people receiving [the vaccine] have greater than 50 percent fewer days in which virus is present in their genital tracts, which in theory may reduce transmission,” said study author Jessica Baker Flechtner. She’s chief scientific officer at Genocea Biosciences, the Cambridge, Mass., manufacturer of the vaccine.
Currently named GEN-003, the vaccine is believed to work by prompting a type of white blood cell known as a T-cell to recognize and kill cells in which the virus lives, Flechtner explained.
Current herpes treatment involves taking antiviral pills that can control the length and severity of symptoms and reduce patients’ outbreaks. But many patients struggle with taking their treatments regularly, infectious disease experts said.
“Herpes is an uncomfortable, embarrassing disease,” Hoffman said. “This [vaccine] offers the opportunity to protect people going into new relationships.
“As you can imagine, if one partner has six to 10 episodes of herpes per year and the other partner is unaffected, it can really change the nature of the relationship,” he added. “But if that number goes down to one to two episodes per year based on immunization, it can help protect the other partner.”
Stanberry predicted that future research would look at combining the vaccine with antiviral pills to gauge the impact on reducing sexual transmission. On its own, the vaccine “is likely to reduce the risk, but the likelihood of eliminating the risk is exceedingly small,” he said.
The study was presented at the Infectious Disease Society of America’s annual meeting in New Orleans that ended Oct. 30. Research presented at conferences typically hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published, and results are considered preliminary.