Human Testing Begins On Springtime Lyme Disease Shot Developed In Mass.
The shot is being safety tested in Lincoln, Nebraska, because there’s so little Lyme disease there — so it will be clear that any antibodies against the Lyme bacteria detected in the subjects’ blood came from the shot, not from a previous infection…. Testing for how effective the shot is could begin in 2022, he says, which means that wide public availability in 2023 “would not be out of the question.”
Lyme disease continues to spread. Can a seasonal shot help slow the spread of the tick-borne illness?
If all goes well, phase 1 clinical trials would be completed in 2021. The phase 2 trial to test for safety and efficacy in a small group of volunteers would follow and then be followed by a phase 3 trial to test the efficacy on many volunteers. We hope to complete these larger studies in late 2022 or 2023.
UMass Medical plans clinical trial for Lyme disease treatment
[R]esearchers are fundraising the $1.5 million necessary for the first phase of the clinical trial through university fundraising methods.
Several groups have reached out to UMass researchers with an interest in advancing their work. The National Institutes of Health launched a task force focused on Lyme, and has reached out to UMass to discuss future funding needs and future studies.
Massachusetts regulators have also been closely monitoring the development of the treatment, going so far as to give $1 million to manufacture the antibody necessary for clinical trials.