Getting To Know Bill Gates' M72 Vaccine, How Effective Is It Against TB?

Illustration of the TBC vaccine trial (Pixabay/Kfuhlert)

YOGYAKARTA Philanthropic from the United States as well as founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates through his foundation is developing an M72/AS01E vaccine that can provide adaptive immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that causes tuberculosis. The vaccine will undergo phase 3 clinical trials in Indonesia involving more than 2,000 participants. Along with the implementation of the plan, many people want to get to know the M72 vaccine more deeply.

So, what is vaccine 72? How is the effectiveness of the M72 vaccine in preventing tuberculosis? Let's find out the answer in the following article.

The M72 vaccine is a tuberculosis (TBC) vaccine with a protein fusion recobinant platform. This vaccine was developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a biopharmaceutical company based in Brentford, London, England.

According to the official website of the Indonesian Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), this vaccine contains M72 antigen and ASEADE-4 adjuvants.

The M72 antigen is a recombinant antigen originating from two Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) proteins, namely Mtb32A and Mtb39A. While Adjuvant ASODE-4 is an ingredient added to increase the immune response to antigens in the vaccine.

In developing the M72 vaccine, GSK partnered with AERAS, a non-profit organization that supports tuberculosis vaccine research.

Quoting the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO), the company received financial support from the Bill Foundation and Melinda Gates, the British Department of International Development (DFID), and other organizations.

Based on information listed on the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Intute page, the M72 vaccine has been developed since the early 2000s. Initially, the vaccine was designed and clinically evaluated by the GSK biofarmation company to the concept proof phase (phase 2b), partnering with the AERAS and International AIDS Vaccine Initative (IAVI) and funded by the GSK and partly by the Gates Foundation.

In 2020, GSK entered into a partnership with Gates MRI to develop the M72 vaccine further. GSK continues to provide technical assistance to Gates MRI by supplying vaccine adjuvants for phase 3 trials and providing post- licensed adjuvants if trials are successful.

The above has been mentioned that the M72 vaccine has undergone a phase 2b study. This study was conducted to evaluate how, immunogenicity, and the effectiveness of M72 vaccine protection against TBparu.

Furthermore, this research compares placebos in negative HIV adults to latent TB infections living in countries with high TB burdens, such as South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia aged 18-50.

This research is a multicenter, double-blind, random, and controlled placebo trial involving 3573 adult participants with negative HIV. They have evidence of early Mycobacterium tuberculosis (IGRA+) infection vaccinated with M72 or a placebo with 2 doses given at an interval of 1 month.

Research results show that the administration of two doses of the TBC M72 vaccine has succeeded in suppressing the development of active TB disease with a 50 percent effectiveness in HIV negative adults with latent M.tb infection.

In this research, 39 participants contributed to the analysis of the main vaccine efficacy for 3 years of absence. Next, 13 participants who were vaccinated with M72 developed a pulmonary TB, compared to 26 participants in the placebo group.

This is a review of the M72 vaccine. Hopefully the information above can make readers know more about the M72 vaccine which can provide adaptive immunity to bacteria that cause tuberculosis. To get other selected news updates, keep reading VOI.ID.