Herpes Vaccines Focus on mRNA

During the initial months of 2023, millions of people were frustrated by the lack of herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine development news.

As of February 28, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not authorized any HSV vaccine.

While herpes-candidate vaccines have been conducting clinical research for years, recent messenger RNA (mRNA) technology announcements raised hopes in 2022

These mRNA herpes vaccines are being produced by industry leaders Moderna Inc. and BioNTech SE.

Moderna's herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine candidate (mRNA-1608) is an mRNA vaccine targeted against HSV-2 disease, focused on inducing a strong antibody response with neutralizing functionality combined with cell-mediated immunity.

However, mRNA-1608 has yet to launch a human-based phase 1 clinical study.

Based on BioNTech's mRNA platform, the BNT163 candidate vaccine encodes three HSV-2 glycoproteins to help prevent HSV cellular entry and spread and counteract the immunosuppressive properties of HSVs.

BNT163's phase 1 clinical study includes 108 participants and was recently updated on January 5, 2023, and has an Estimated Study Completion Date of June 2025.

Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD), says the FDA. There are two types of HSV that can cause genital herpes: HSV-1 and HSV-2.

Most cases of recurrent genital herpes are caused by HSV-2, and 11.9% of persons aged 14–49 years are estimated to be infected in the U.S.

However, an increasing proportion of anogenital herpetic infections have been attributed to HSV-1, which is prominent among young women.

To increase transparency, the U.S. National Instuties of Health and its partners launched STI Watch, a portal containing updated information on vaccine development status. 

Other herpes vaccine news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Herpes.