Pneumo 2

FIND OUT MORE AND VOLUNTEER FOR THE TRIAL

What is the purpose of the study?

In the UK, there are 2 vaccines currently used to provide protection against pneumococcus:

PCV-13 (Prevenar 13®) protects against 13 (of over 90) strains of pneumococcus and is routinely given to children under 2 years of age.
PPV-23 (Pneumovax 23®) protects against 23 strains and is routinely given to adults over 65 years of age.

Some countries such as the US also recommend PCV-13 for older adults,over 65 years of age. Both are also used in children and adults with medical conditions that put them at higher risk of pneumococcal disease.

Pneumococcal bacteria can be carried in the nose of approx. 1 in 10 healthy adults without any symptoms. This is called pneumococcal colonisation or carriage. PCV-13 has been shown to prevent pneumococcal carriage from many strains, particularly in children but PPV-23 has not.

A short video about the trial

Some strains of pneumococcus are present in each vaccine however they continue to circulate in the community and cause disease. This is called vaccine escape. In this study, we want to investigate vaccine escape using strain 3 at 1 month following vaccination. We will also investigate if these vaccines provide long term protection against pneumococcal colonisation 6 months post vaccination.

This randomised controlled trial will test both vaccines against a placebo. Volunteers will be randomly allocated to receive one pneumococcal vaccine or a placebo (saline injection). The volunteers, scientists and clinical team will not know which treatment they have been randomised to receive. An unblinded team will administer the vaccine/ placebo.

In this study we are aiming to recruit a total of 516 healthy adults aged 18-50 years old.

Meet our volunteers

Join the team as a trial volunteer

Research into vaccines is the only way to find out which vaccines will work – researchers need people to take part in studies to find out which possible new vaccine works best.

If you are interested in taking please register your interest on the volunteer page and then you will be sent information when a trial is recruiting.

This presentation will explain the process of signing up to be a trial volunteer. You can sign up to the volunteer database here.

The Accelerator Research Clinic (ARC)

The Liverpool Vaccine Group is based at LSTM and conducts world-leading research into pneumococcal bacteria, a major cause of meningitis, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and pneumonia worldwide. The team is based in the Accelerator Research Clinic and has completed over 26 studies and recruited over 2,000 participants in the last decade. The Experimental Human Pneumococcal Challenge (EHPC) Model is the only model in the world in which volunteers are inoculated with live pneumococcal bacteria in their nose. This model is used as a way of testing new vaccines as well as a transmission model for prevention strategies against disease caused by this bacteria.

All clinical trial appointments are held at ARC.