Russian scientists developed an innovative vaccine against herpes

DNA vaccine against herpes developed by St. Petersburg Research Institute of High-Purity Biological Preparations of the Federal Biomedical Agency of Russia is much safer than the existing analogs which contain the weakened virus or its inactivated components.

According to Andrey Simbirtsev, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Scientific Director of the Research Institute of High-Purity Biological Preparations, the new vaccine is a product of genetic engineering and ensures a high level of biosecurity because it contains only the genes of protein fragments. These fragments included in the vaccine are specific for different types of virus and protect people from almost all varieties of this disease.

The vaccine can be used for both adults and children. It will be used for the prevention of disease and treatment of people already infected with herpes.

According to Andrey Simbirtsev, the vaccine will increase the intervals between relapses and reduce the severity of such relapses, which will significantly improve the quality of life for the patients.

Pilot studies of the drug have already been conducted. The next stage will be to scale the technology and conduct full-fledged registration preclinical studies to obtain the authorization for clinical trials.

“Preclinical studies demonstrated excellent results. It is highly likely that the clinical trials will be successful, and we will get a universal vaccine against herpes,” added the Head of the Federal Biomedical Agency of Russia.