Vaccine for Prevention of Rabies Infection in Humans

Inventors: Hildegund C. J. Ertl

Tech ID: EH01001

Background: Rabies infections are responsible for the loss of over 55,000 human lives each year, mostly children in Asia and Africa.  In these countries, human rabies infections usually result from the bite of an infected dog; as many of 70% of rabies victims are under 15 years of age.  Since current rabies vaccines do not induce long term immunity (e.g. over 2 years), the typical treatment for prevention of human rabies infection is Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), which consists of a series of 5-8 immunizations with rabies vaccine in conjunction with the administration of rabies immune globulin. 

Due to overall costs, complexity of the treatment protocol, and a need to refrigerate the materials, the current PEP regimen is employed in only a fraction of the dog bite cases in Asia and Africa.  There remains a need for an inexpensive, temperature stable, prophylactic rabies vaccine that can be used in these regions.

Description: Researchers at Wistar have developed a new rabies vaccine that has the potential to produce the long-lasting immunity to rabies that is required for an effective prophylactic vaccine.  This vaccine is derived from recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus (rAdC68) that contains the DNA sequence of the rabies glycoprotein. 

In non-human primates, this adenovirus-based vaccine produces long-lasting immunity after just one intramuscular injection, even in the presence of pre-existing immunity to human adenovirus.  In ongoing studies, primates immunized with one does of the rAdC68 rabies vaccine showed no decline in serum antibody levels after six months. Wistar is seeking a partner to develop this vaccine for prevention of human rabies infection, either as a single vaccine or in combination with the current human diploid cell rabies vaccine.  The adenovirus-based vaccine is less expensive to produce, maintain, and distribute than the current human rabies vaccines.  This new immunization approach may make it feasible and cost-effective to administer prophylactic rabies vaccines to children in areas where rabies still commonly infects dogs and other companion animals.   

Key Words: rabies vaccine, rabies, adenovirus vector, vaccine

Applications and Advantages: The recombinant chimp adenovirus-based rabies vaccine can induce long-lasting immunity to rabies after a single immunization.  Such a vaccine has the potential to be less expensive to produce and administer than the current PEP treatment regimen, which requires multiple immunizations in combination with immune globulin.

Intellectual Property Licensing: Wistar will provide prospective partners with the appropriate materials (rAdC68 expressing rabies glycoprotein) to develop vaccines for use in Asia and Africa.  Non-exclusive or exclusive licenses will be considered.

Contact:

Meryle J. Melnicoff
Director, Business Development
The Wistar Institute
3601 Spruce Street
Room 322
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 898-0049
Fax: (215) 495-6861
melnicoff@wistar.org

last updated: Aug. 09