NIAID Begins Clinical Trial Of West Nile Virus Vaccine

A small trial testing the safety of an experimental vaccine targeting West Nile virus (WNV) opened today at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. The vaccine, which will be tested first in 15 healthy adult volunteers, was developed for human clinical studies by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center (VRC), and Vical Inc., San Diego, based on an animal vaccine tested at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vical also manufactures the experimental vaccine.