MVA85A (

modified vaccinia Ankara Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is an attenuated (weakened) strain of the vaccinia virus. It is being used as a vaccine (called MVA-BN, brand names: Imvanex in the EU, Imvamune in Canada, and Jynneos in the US) against smallpox and monkeypox, havi ...

85A) is a vaccine against

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

developed by researchers led by Professor

Helen McShane Helen Irene McShane is a British infectious disease physician and a professor of vaccinology, in the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, where she has led the tuberculosis vaccine research group since 2001. She is senior research fell ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. This vaccine produces higher levels of long-lasting cellular immunity when used together with the older TB vaccine BCG. Phase I clinical trials were completed and then phase II clinical trials took place in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Efficacy trials ran in parallel from 2009 to 2019. Results released in February 2013, were described as "disappointing", showing only a

statistically insignificant In statistical hypothesis testing, a result has statistical significance when it is very unlikely to have occurred given the null hypothesis (simply by chance alone). More precisely, a study's defined significance level, denoted by \alpha, is the p ...

prevention rate in infants. Results published in 2015, cast doubt on the efficacy of the vaccine. In 2018, a ''BMJ'' investigation raised concerns about the ethics of an efficacy trial in South African infants, particularly because of results from earlier animal trials such as a study with

macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principally ...

s at

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

. One response argued that 14 prior human trials showed a safety signal, that regulators were aware of the primate trial and decided to continue, and that three subsequent investigations found no evidence of wrong-doing. Another response by

Ian Orme Ian Orme (9 August 1952 – 19 June 2018) was a British-American microbiologist who was a Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University. References 1952 births 2018 deaths Colorado State University faculty American microbiologists ...

questioned the critique of animal models.

References

External links

New TB vaccine shown to be safe
Tuberculosis vaccines {{vaccine-stub