EMBARGOED UNTIL 1.30PM EST
December 10, 2009
VACCINE TO TREAT GUM DISEASE ON THE WAY
CSL Limited, Australia’s leading biopharmaceutical company, has today
announced that a vaccine to treat severe gum disease is being developed in a
new collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s leading global manufacturer of
vaccines.
CSL has signed an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur to fund a program in the CRC
for the further development of a vaccine to prevent and treat the severe gum
disease peridontitis.
Up to 30% of Australian adults suffer from the wide-spread gum disease, which
causes gums to bleed and teeth to fall out. The condition has also been linked
with heart disease, stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, dementia and cancer.
Following more than ten years of research, scientists from The University of
Melbourne and CSL, in the Cooperative Research Centre for Oral Health Science
have identified candidate vaccine antigens for periodontitis.
“Periodontitis is a serious disease and dentists face a major challenge in treating
it, because most people will not know they have the disease until it’s too late and
the infection has progressed to advanced stages” said Professor Eric Reynolds,
AO, CEO of the CRC for Oral Health Science and the Head of The University of
Melbourne’s Dental School.
“Traditional treatment for the disease often involves scaling and cleaning, and
even surgery in an effort to contain the bacterial infection.” He said.
This new vaccine approach targets the ‘ring leader’ of a group of
pathogenic
bacteria that cause periodontitis, the bacterium called Porphyromonas gingivalis.
“We are very excited about this novel approach to the disease, “said Professor
Reynolds. “It will provide dentists and patients with a specific treatment, which
prevents disease progression, rather than managing its symptoms and damaging
consequences.”
“It has taken over ten years to develop the vaccine to this stage,” said Dr Andrew
Cuthbertson, CSL’s Chief Scientific Officer. “CSL is pleased to advise of an
agreement with Sanofi Pasteur to undertake a funded program to develop a
vaccine for the treatment of periodontal disease caused by Porphyromonas
gingivalis. The research program can be expanded to incorporate the antibiotic
gel as a combination product with the vaccine.”
The vaccine development program involves identifying the bacterial peptides and
proteins that trigger the immune response, and using these as the basis of
vaccines. The vaccines are being trialled in mouse models of periodontal disease
and following a positive response, a vaccine will progress to clinical trials.
Should this program be successful, Sanofi Pasteur has an option to an exclusive
world-wide license to commercialise the intellectual property associated with
these products.
For further information please contact:
Dr Rachel David, Director of Public Affairs, CSL Limited Phone: +61 401 775 779
Email: rachel.david@csl.com.au
Rebecca Scott, Media Officer, University of Melbourne Mobile +61 417 164 791
Email: rebeccas@unimelb.edu.au
Daniella Goldberg, Ogilvy PR Health, Mobile: + 61 416 211 067
Email: daniella@ogilvyprhealth.com
About CSL:
The CSL Group has a combined heritage of outstanding contribution to medicine
and human health with more than 90 years experience in the development and
manufacture of vaccines and plasma protein biotherapies.
With major facilities in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and the US, CSL has over
10,000 employees working in 27 countries
About the CRC for Oral Health
The Cooperative Research Centre for Oral Health Science brings together
scientists, dentists, population health experts and manufacturers to find new and
efficient ways of reducing the burden of oral disease in Australia.
The CRCA represents 58 Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) which
specialise in a broad range of sciences, technologies and industries. CRCs aim to
increase collaboration between researchers and industry and better promote the
uptake and use of research.
About The University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is one of Australia’s oldest universities and
celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003. It is ranked among the top 100 research
institutes worldwide and is ranked number one in Australia for employability of its
graduates. The University is renowned as Australia’s leading biomedical
enterprise, training more health professionals, and attracting more nationally
competitive grants for biomedical research than any other Australian university.
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