It seemed like a great idea: a patch-based vaccine that prevents travelers from getting diarrhea during their precious holidays. And with millions of international travelers, there is a large market for it. However, Intercell has just announced it has stopped further development of the vaccine. A candidate vaccine was tested in a randomized and placebo-controlled Phase III study with 2036 travelers from Europe to Mexico and Guatemala, as well as a pilot efficacy Phase II trial with 723 travelers from Europe to India. The vaccine was well-tolerated, but did not reduce the incidence of moderate to severe diarrhea. On the bright side, it did reduce the duration of diarrhea and the total number of “unformed stools”. In other words, the vaccine was somewhat effective, but not effective enough to continue development. The company will keep working on the patch technology for other vaccines and is also working on a Vaccine Enhancement Patch (VEP) system for vaccination against Avian H5N1 Influenza. The video below shows how the patch system works.
Press release: Intercell provides update on clinical trials for the patch-based Travelers’ Diarrhea vaccine …