Vaccine value profile for Hookworm.

Hookworm, a parasitic infection, retains a considerable burden of disease, affecting the most underprivileged segments of the general population in endemic countries and remains one of the leading causes of mild to severe anemia in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), particularly in pregnancy and children under 5. Despite repeated large scale Preventive Chemotherapy (PC) interventions since more than 3 decades, there is broad consensus among scholars that elimination targets set in the newly launched NTD roadmap will require additional tools and interventions. Development of a vaccine could constitute a promising expansion of the existing arsenal against hookworm. Therefore, we have evaluated the biological and implementation feasibility of the vaccine development as well as the added value of such a novel tool. Based on pipeline landscaping and the current knowledge on key biological aspects of the pathogen and its interactions with the host, we found biological feasibility of development of a hookworm vaccine to be moderate. Also, our analysis on manufacturing and regulatory issues as well as potential uptake yielded moderate implementation feasibility. Modelling studies suggest a that introduction of a vaccine in parallel with ongoing integrated interventions (PC, WASH, shoe campaigns), could substantially reduce burden of disease in a cost - saving mode. Finally a set of actions are recommended that might impact positively the likelihood of timely development and introduction of a hookworm vaccine.

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Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest The team of scientists at Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development including its co-directors, Professors Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi, are co-inventors of a COVID-19 recombinant protein vaccine technology owned by Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) that was recently licensed by BCM non-exclusively and with no patent restrictions to several companies committed to advance vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. The co-inventors have no involvement in license negotiations conducted by BCM. Similar to other research universities, a long-standing BCM policy provides its faculty and staff, who make discoveries that result in a commercial license, a share of any royalty income. To date, BCM has not distributed any royalty income to the co-inventors on the COVID-19 recombinant protein vaccine technology. Any such distribution will be undertaken in accordance with BCM policy. Additionally, professors Hotez and Bottazzi are inventors and patentholders on vaccines against hookworm, schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, and other neglected diseases which are currently in development or in clinical trials. The other authors have no competing interests to declare.