Biodesign Researcher Awarded $14.8 million to Develop New Pneumonia Vaccine for Newborns

Kimberly Ovitt, Director of Communication & Institutional Advancement
(480)727-8688 | kimberly.ovitt@asu.edu

TEMPE, Ariz. – ASU researcher Roy Curtiss has dedicated much of his career to finding effective vaccines that overcome geo-political barriers. Now, his dream is getting a booster shot. He is the recipient of a $14.8 million grant from the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative to develop a new pneumonia vaccine for newborns, funded primarily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bacterial pneumonia results in an estimated three million deaths annually, with children under the age of five accounting for 90 percent of the deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The majority of these deaths occur in the developing world, where access to medical care and vaccines is limited.

Curtiss is co-director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology in the Biodesign Institute at ASU and a professor in the School of Life Sciences. The primary aim of his research is to develop a vaccine that can be used in infants and very young children to prevent pneumonia, is highly effective against all strains of bacteria causing the disease, can be given in a single dose, and will address the urgent needs within developing nations for a low-cost, needle-free vaccine.

Curtiss' proposal was one of 43 projects selected for funding from among an initial 1,500 requests for funding by scientists in 75 countries. The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is a major effort to achieve scientific breakthroughs against diseases that kill millions of people each year in the world's poorest countries.

"By developing this new vaccine, we hope to succeed in developing something that is effective yet safe for this very young population," said Curtiss.

While developed countries like the U.S. do have access to vaccines against pneumonia, these have limited effectiveness and are not suited to global use. For example, the most popular pneumonia vaccine in the U.S. protects against just 7 percent of the estimated 100 strains of bacterial pneumonia. The vaccine was not developed to combat the strains found in developing countries, where about 95 percent of pneumonia deaths occur.

Developing nations also often have populations that are spread over large geographic areas with few health clinics, poor modes of transportation, and a shortage of trained health care workers. The pneumonia vaccine approved for use in infants and toddlers in the U.S. requires four doses of an injected vaccine given at specific intervals. A single dose vaccine that is given orally could be administered with less training and requires just one encounter with a health care provider.

Another advantage is that the bacterial vaccine Curtiss is proposing is far less expensive to produce than the conjugate vaccines currently available; approximately $1 per dose as compared to more than $50 per dose for current alternatives.¹

While the biggest gains will be made in developing countries, Curtiss' research promises significant benefits to U.S. citizens as well. Pneumonia results in about 61,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. The bacterium which causes pneumonia also causes middle ear infections and meningitis. Ear infections are responsible for about 30 million physician office visits each year, accounting for an estimated $2 billion in treatment costs in the U.S. annually.² About half of all the antibiotics prescribed for children are to treat ear infections.

The project will formulate the vaccine with a safe, low-cost additive derived from weakened Salmonella bacteria, which early studies suggest can enhance a vaccine's ability to stimulate a potent immune response. Curtiss' team will also work to design the vaccine so that it can be given orally, as oral delivery is less dependent on sterile conditions than needle injections and requires less training to administer. If effective, this technology has the potential to be used for a range of existing and new vaccines.

The Curtiss award was among an elite group of finalists that included Nobel laureates and several investigators from some of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.

"Infectious diseases remain a scourge of developing nations, but the ongoing work of Roy Curtiss and his team offers new hope," said ASU President Michael Crow. "We commend the Gates Foundation and other supporters of the Grand Challenges initiative for their commitment to global health, and their investment in the high-impact, use-inspired research now underway in the Biodesign Institute."

Curtiss, a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, represented the first "superstar" strategic recruitment following the hire of George Poste as director of the Institute. Poste, who was honored as 2004 R&D Scientist of the Year, was selected by ASU President Michael Crow to lead the advancement of a pioneering world-class bioscience institute at ASU focused on improving human health and the quality of life.

"This Grand Challenges award is an outstanding achievement for ASU and the Biodesign Institute, and would not have been possible without the research infrastructure put in place to attract someone of Dr. Curtiss' caliber and international stature," said George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute. "His project represents a bold, innovative approach toward solving some of the most pressing needs in the developing world."

The award also is one of the largest individual investigator awards in the history of ASU.

The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is supported by a $450 million commitment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as two new funding commitments: $27.1 million from the Wellcome Trust, and $4.5 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The initiative is managed by global health experts at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), the Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and CIHR.

"It's shocking how little research is directed toward the diseases of the world's poorest countries," said Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "By harnessing the world's capacity for scientific innovation, I believe we can transform health in the developing world and save millions of lives."

Global Impact of Bacterial Pneumonia to be Addressed by Curtiss? Vaccine Research

• Globally, approximately 3 million deaths annually are due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacteria that causes pneumonia and meningitis. (Although serious complications can result from ear infections, this data is not collected in developing nations given the larger health problems faced by these regions.)
• Current vaccines do not protect against all strains (serotypes) of Streptococcus pneumoniae. There are an estimated 100 Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes. The proposed vaccine is designed to be effective against about 95 percent of these serotypes. The most popular anti-pneumonia vaccine in the U.S. for children protects against about 7 serotype strains most commonly found in the U.S.; another vaccine protects older children and adults against 23 strains, but again, was based on strains common in the U.S. The most virulent strains in developing countries are likely to differ significantly from those in the U.S., rendering the current vaccines even less effective.
• While statistically, the most significant threat to health exists in the developing world, the impact in the U.S. is worth noting. Streptococcus pneumoniae annually causes more than 700 cases of meningitis, about 17,000 blood infections and about 5 million ear infections. In the U.S., Streptococcus pneumoniae results in more than 61,000 deaths annually.
• Current vaccines are ill-suited to use in developing nations, yet developing nations account for more than 95 percent of deaths from acute respiratory infections. The reasons for a vaccine better-suited for use in developing nations include:
  • The current anti-pneumonia vaccine on the market approved for use in infants and toddlers requires 4 doses of an injected vaccine given at specific intervals, ideally, within the first 15 months after birth. Such methods are not appropriate in developing nations for the reasons below, yet it is in developing nations that the biggest threat exists. Globally, children under the age of 5 represent an estimated 90 percent of pneumonia deaths. The global picture varies radically from that in the U.S., where children represent a small percentage of the deaths from pneumonia, (about 200 of the approximately 61,000 deaths annually) and the elderly comprise the larger percentage.
  • Current vaccines require injection by needle, multiple doses, and generally protect only for a period of three years. Such a method requires multiple encounters of a patient with a highly-trained health care worker over time. It ignores the realities in developing nations of a shortage of highly-trained health care workers and the difficulties in ensuring even a single encounter of the patient with a trained health care worker.
• These barriers include the fact that the needy populations are spread over vast geographic regions with poor modes of transportation; individuals may lack the education to pursue a complex vaccination program for themselves and their children; and the lack of permanent residences makes it difficult to achieve continuity in establishing centralized services serving a stable population over time. The types of vaccines currently available (conjugate vaccines) require expensive production methods, methods which produce products at around $40 per dose. To be affordable for distribution in developing nations, a vaccine would need to cost about $1 or less. The proposed method of vaccine production (live bacterial vaccine) would enable this type of cost-effective production.

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About the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

The Biodesign Institute at ASU integrates research in diverse disciplines including biology, engineering, medicine, physics, information technology and cognitive science to accelerate discoveries into beneficial uses. The institute is pursuing innovations in health care, national security and environmental sustainability.

Cited Sources:

¹Business Week '02: Prevnar cost: $232 for 4 doses
²Source WebMD