1 February 2012 - The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) said on Tuesday that it is providing technical support to the Sabin Vaccine Institute's (Sabin) Phase I clinical trial of a human hookworm vaccine candidate, which kicked off in Brazil last week.

IDRI has provided the developers of the hookworm vaccine with its proprietary GLA-AF adjuvant to be used as a component of the vaccine, which is based on Sabin's Na-GST-1 antigen.

The clinical trial is being conducted by the Brazilian Ministry of Health's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) and will enrol 102 adults aged between 18 and 45. Each of the volunteers will receive three injections of Sabin's candidate vaccine over a period of four months. Researchers will then examine each volunteer for 12 more months, monitoring the safety of the vaccine and analysing the vaccinee's immune response.