Published on 22/09/11 at 09:53am
Sanofi Pasteur has signed a new research deal with the University of California, San Diego for its investigational acne vaccine.
Sanofis vaccines division Sanofi Pasteur will work with the University of California, San Diego, on an immunological approach to acne prevention.
The vaccine, which will now pass into phase I clinical testing, will target the specific neutralisation of Propionibacterium acnes factors in inflammation and could represent a new way of treating the disease.
The disease has a number of complex factors, but is associated in particular with the Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium P. acnes, which normally live within human skin.
The agreement includes a two-year research collaboration with Dr Chun-Ming Huang and his associates at UC San Diego School of Medicine for further research and development.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Sanofi believes the global market for acne medicines is worth around $3 billion.
Current treatments include topical ointments, antibacterials and some hormonal drugs.
Roches Accutane (isotretinoin) was one of the biggest sellers in the market until it lost its patent protection in 2002, but was dogged by serious safety concerns for most of its product lifecycle.
Elias Zerhouni, president of global R&D at Sanofi, said: This opportunity could provide an immunotherapeutic product with significant benefits and a novel mechanism of action to address an unmet medical need.
This investigational vaccine and treatment may lead to a better solution for the many who suffer from this skin disease, Zerhouni added.
Acne is an extremely common multi-factorial skin disease with a prevalence of 80-90% in adolescents.
It is considered a chronic disease for a limited lifetime period and, although often a simple and self-limited condition, it can result in psychological, physical and social problems for those affected.
Ben Adams
has anybody read about this. Sanofi and University of San Diego are teaming up to reasearch a vaccine against acne.
http://www.inpharm.com/news/167732/sanofi-spots-acne-vaccine-opportunity
sigh, even if the project is successful, it wont be available till probably ten years from now. i would kill for this if it was available now. lol.
does anyone actually think there will ever be a 'cure' for acne? it seems like any research and any attempt has failed. it sucks how they have so many cures for so many other things and not acne. I realise its probably because of all the money in the treatments but hell I'd pay $1000s for the vacine. surely millions of people doing that would encourage at least one company. even if they just made the vaccine exclusion to people will serious acne not just a little pimple here and there every few weeks :/
iam in med school, and unforunately there isnt many cures out there....
for example, diabetes, hypertension, hearth disease, cancer, hiv...to name a few.
what there is cure is when there is immunization like mmr- measels, mumps and rubella, and dpt, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus.
if they are successful with this one, it could be a cure...but its still on its baby steps unforunately...
sorry if that came out into a rant.
it is very true indeed there are hardly any cures out there. I suppose acne just seems like it would be somewhat easier to 'cure' than others as hormonal treatments and accutane work so well for some people. I wish they knew enough to make them permanent and safe.
I also wish for example the lottery. giving one winner 10 million dollars to enjoy their life for purchasing a ticket when that money or gameshow cash could be used for research for such important things like this.
i wonder how long it will take if we get updates on this one if it actually is promising and real and not just false hope like others :/
there was a vaccine for acne years ago.my father had it somewhere in the 70s.And it was a vaccine specifically designed for his own bacterias (had his puss from the pimple examined) but it did not work and later it was taken off the market because of the low efficiency.The problem with the vaccine is that if your organism does not fight those bacterias by itself (for some reason,perhaps because it does not find them all that dangerous) then an injection with some disarmed bacterias will not change this.Imagine giving a person who went down,with,let's say,cholera a vaccine when they are already infected.This will not change a thing.And we are all already :"infected" by p.acnes and our organisms do not hassle to fight them.
there are ,in fact,effective medications for acne (like Accutane,hormonal therapy),but some of us just dont tolerate them (for longer).I am one of those unlucky creatures.
Dont be so hysterical,there are way more diseases with no cure for them,than your young brains know of;)