Acambis vaccine for Japanese encephalitis shows promise

Acambis of the UK has reported that its vaccine against Japaneseencephalitis based on its ChimeriVax technology has shown positive results in a Phase I/II trial, both in terms of its safety and its ability to generate neutralizing antibodies against the mosquito-borne viral infection. The company estimates that the potential market for a new and effective vaccine against JE is around $300 million a year. Currently, available vaccines for JE suffer from an adverse tolerability profile, but still achieve sales of around $200 million a year. Acambis hopes to have its product on the market in 2004 if additional trials are positive.