Gonorrhea Vaccines 2023

Gonorrhea Vaccines 2023

The World Health Organization (WHO) published guidance for gonorrhea vaccine development in November 2021. However, as of March 2023, there are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccines for preventing gonorrhea infection or sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Gonorrhea Vaccine Candidates 2023

Meningococcal (MenB-4C) vaccination is recommended in France against gonorrhea. A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases on June 1, 2022, suggests that a meningococcal serogroup B vaccine may offer cross-protection against gonorrhea infection. And a collection of studies published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases reported that two doses of the 4CMenB vaccine were around 33% to 40% effective against gonorrhea in adolescents and young adults. A separate modeling study indicated that vaccinating at-risk people could prevent 110,000 gonorrhea cases in England.

Intravacc's Avacc 11® is the prophylactic intranasal gonorrhea candidate vaccine being developed in partnership with Therapyx Inc.

UMass Chan Medical School received a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for the preclinical development of gonorrhea vaccine candidates identified by Evaxion. A report was published n the journal mBio in 2019.

Gonorrhea Treatment 2023

Gonorrhea can be cured with antibiotics, however, the bacteria have developed resistance to some treatments, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Cleveland Clinic has said antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea could play a role in certain rising STD rates, a situation the CDC has called “an urgent public health threat.”

The CDC recommends a single dose of 500 mg of intramuscular ceftriaxone. Alternative regimens are available when ceftriaxone cannot treat urogenital or rectal gonorrhea. Although medication will stop the infection, it will not repair any permanent damage done by the disease.

This concept of post-exposure prophylaxis was first evaluated in the ANRS IPERGAY phase 3 clinical trial, which demonstrated that doxycycline, when used within 72 hours after sexual intercourse, led to an approximately 70% reduction in the risk of infection with chlamydia and syphilis, which is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. On February 19, 2023, Mark Mascolini reported Doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (DoxyPEP) and, separately, a meningococcal vaccine (4CMenB) continued to cut the risk of STIs in MSM using preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) who continued the preventive measures after preliminary reports of success in the DOXYVAC trial.

Gonorrhea Vaccine News

January 19, 2023 - The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced it detected a novel strain of gonorrhea in a resident and, for the first time, showed that resistance or reduced response to five classes of antibiotics has been identified in gonorrhea in the U.S. This gonorrhea strain had been seen in Asia-Pacific countries and the U.K. A genetic marker common to these Massachusetts cases was previously seen in a case in Nevada.

December 20, 2022 - mSphere published: Microencapsulated IL-12 Drives Genital Tract Immune Responses to Intranasal Gonococcal Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccine and Induces Resistance to Vaginal Infection with Diverse Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

October 24, 2022 - Study: The Efficacy of a Meningococcal B Vaccine and a Preventive Antibiotic in Reducing the Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections. -meningococcal B vaccine in reducing the risk of gonorrhea infection and using doxycycline as preventive intervention - Recommends the provision of both interventions to all its participants.

September 29, 2022 - The UMass Chan Medical School received a U.S. NIH grant for the preclinical development of gonorrhea vaccine candidates identified by Evaxion, a clinical-stage biotech company in Denmark.

April 12, 2022 - The Lancet published: Effectiveness of a serogroup B outer membrane vesicle meningococcal vaccine against gonorrhea: a retrospective observational study. MenB-4C vaccination was associated with a reduced gonorrhea prevalence and could offer cross-protection against Neisseria gonorrhoeae. 

April 11, 2022 - The journal Frontiers published: Recent Progress Towards a Gonococcal Vaccine.

January 4, 2022 - The NEJM published: Eliminating Gonorrhea with a Vaccine?