Shares of Crucell jumped after the developer announced that an early-stage trial of an experimental tuberculosis vaccine demonstrated a promising immune response in volunteers. The Dutch biotech is teamed up with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation and the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative in advancing AERAS-402/Crucell Ad35. And a third early-stage vaccine trial is underway in South Africa, which has an extraordinarily high rate of the disease. The currently used vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guerin, was developed 85 years ago, but is regarded as largely ineffective against pulmonary TB.
"While preliminary, these results are promising. We are pleased that Crucell's technologies are playing a key role in the search and development of a much-needed TB vaccine," said Dr. Jaap Goudsmit, chief scientific officer at Crucell. "We highly value the collaboration with Aeras and SATVI on this important mission."
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