Firm develops West Nile vaccine

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

David Watumull, president and CEO of Hawaii Biotech, will announce today that his company has developed a vaccine that shows promise in protecting against the West Nile virus. Watumull hopes to get approval to begin testing on humans. Advertiser library photo

David Watumull, Hawaii Biotech president and chief executive officer, said the vaccine produced by the company protected all 60 test animals when injected with West Nile virus.

In contrast, he said 77 percent, or 23 of the 30, control animals died and the others showed some signs of sickness.

Dr. Linda Rosen, a state deputy health director, said the news is exciting for a Hawai'i-based company but it is too early to tell its long-term significance.

"It's certainly a step along the way to developing a vaccine that could be quite important," she said.

Hawaii Biotech is a privately held biopharmaceutical company, specializing in drug research and development. The company is based in 'Aiea and was founded in 1982 by nine UH professors.

Although West Nile virus has not been detected in Hawai'i, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 4,156 cases in 44 states were reported last year, resulting in 284 deaths.

At its most serious, the disease can lead to infection that can cause fatal encephalitis or inflammation of the brain in humans. It can also infect and kill horses and birds.

In a written statement, Dr. Edwin Cadman, the dean of the University of Hawai'i medical school and a board member of Hawaii Biotech, described the research findings as "breakthrough results."

Cadman said the next step will be to submit the vaccine to a safety evaluation in people and then begin a clinical trial with those at high risk for West Nile. The time schedule will depend on what the Federal Drug Administration wants the company to do.

Watumull said the company plans to move to human testing as quickly as possible, which he expects will take a year to 15 months.

The Hawaii Biotech research was conducted by Dr. Robert B. Tesh, a professor at the Center for Tropical Diseases of the University of Texas Medical Branch and a leading researcher in the field. He plans to present full results at a conference in October in Spain.

In a statement,Tesh said the results using a vaccine that includes genetically engineered viral proteins are "quite promising" since the vaccine could be used more safely with groups at highest risk for severe infections associated with the disease: the elderly and those whose immune systems have been compromised.

"We're the first to achieve this type of results with this type of vaccine," Watumull said. "We would expect that this will work in humans the way it worked in animals."

He said live virus vaccines — such as the smallpox inoculation — present a small risk of causing severe cases of disease in some people.

Researchers in other states have shown promising results for vaccines that use live virus, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Acambis, another company doing research in the field, has also developed a promising West Nile vaccine that is expected to begin human trials later this year, according to the June report of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.