A new Lyme disease vaccine has entered phase 3 of its clinical trial. Pfizer and French biotech Valneva are seeking 6,000 people ages 5 and over to participate in the trial of VLA15. This vaccine is the only Lyme disease vaccine currently in clinical development.
The only other Lyme disease vaccine was pulled off the market in 2002 due to lack of demand. However, Lyme disease has been a growing issue over the past 30 years. Now, a vaccine is in much higher demand.
Data from 2010-2018 suggests that around 470,000 people have been diagnosed with Lyme disease yearly in the U.S. alone. Scientists have observed the population of black-legged ticks, or deer ticks, growing.
Reported sightings have doubled over the past twenty years. Ticks are thriving in rising temperatures and may be increasing their population due to an increase in the deer they feed on.
Even though the number of cases is growing, tests to detect Lyme disease still lack accuracy. They are only around 30% accurate in the first three weeks of infection, becoming 87 percent accurate once Lyme spreads to the neurological system and 97 percent accurate for patients who develop Lyme arthritis. Doctors usually rely on seeing the bullseye-shaped mark from the tick bite to diagnose the disease.
It is important to treat Lyme disease early, as once Lyme disease has spread to the neurological system, it can affect memory and cause cognitive defects and neuropathy. A Lyme disease vaccine could soothe many worries for those who come in contact with ticks.
Pfizer said in a statement that the vaccine targets the bacteria borrelia burdorferi, one of the causative agents of Lyme disease in humans. The company is hopeful about the outcome of the clinical trial, stating that the Lyme disease vaccine “demonstrated a strong immune response and satisfactory safety profile in pre-clinical and clinical studies so far.”
