Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Apr 2;46(4):56-61.
doi: 10.14745/ccdr.v46i04a01.

Overview of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate pipeline in Canada

April Killikelly  1 , Matthew Tunis  1 , Althea House  1 , Caroline Quach  2 , Wendy Vaudry  3 , Dorothy Moore  4
Affiliations

Overview of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate pipeline in Canada

April Killikelly et al. Can Commun Dis Rep. .

Abstract

A vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been actively sought for over 60 years due to the health impacts of RSV disease in infants, but currently the only available preventive measure in Canada and elsewhere is limited to passive immunization for high-risk infants and children with a monoclonal antibody. RSV vaccine development has faced many challenges, including vaccine-induced enhancement of RSV disease in infants. Several key developments in the last decade in the fields of cellular immunology and protein structure have led to new products entering late-stage clinical development. As of July 2019, RSV vaccine development is being pursued by 16 organizations in 121 clinical trials. Five technologies dominate the field of RSV vaccine development, four active immunizing agents (live-attenuated, particle-based, subunit-based and vector-based vaccines) and one new passive immunizing agent (monoclonal antibody). Phase 3 clinical trials of vaccine candidates for pregnant women, infants, children and older adults are under way. The next decade will see a dramatic transformation of the RSV prevention landscape.

Keywords: NACI; National Advisory Committee on Immunization; RSV; immunization; respiratory syncytial virus; vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of RSV vaccine target populations Abbreviations: BN, Bavarian Nordic; DPX, DepoVax; MVA, modified Vaccinia Ankara virus; NCT, National Clinical Trial; NIAD, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; NIH, National Institutes of Health; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; SeVRSV, Sendai virus vectored respiratory syncytial virus; VRC, Vaccine Research Center Note: Each box (listing the developing organization and the NCT number) represents a vaccine candidate in a phase of clinical development. As the phase of development increases the colour of the box becomes darker. These boxes are organized by the target population that closely aligns with the populations at risk for severe disease. As with other vaccines in development, early Phase 1 clinical trials that assess safety are done in healthy adults and later stages of clinical trials (Phases 2 and 3) are done in the target population of interest to assess efficacy and effectiveness Adapted from: Graham (2019) (8)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of RSV vaccine products timelinea Abbreviation: RSV, respiratory syncytial virus a Based on data collected through July 1, 2019, this figure describes the timeline of the clinical testing of products in late-stage clinical development. Each box represents a product in a phase of clinical development. As the phase of development increases the colour of the box becomes darker
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Shi T, McAllister DA, O’Brien KL, Simoes EA, Madhi SA, Gessner BD, Polack FP, Balsells E, Acacio S, Aguayo C, Alassani I, Ali A, Antonio M, Awasthi S, Awori JO, Azziz-Baumgartner E, Baggett HC, Baillie VL, Balmaseda A, Barahona A, Basnet S, Bassat Q, Basualdo W, Bigogo G, Bont L, Breiman RF, Brooks WA, Broor S, Bruce N, Bruden D, Buchy P, Campbell S, Carosone-Link P, Chadha M, Chipeta J, Chou M, Clara W, Cohen C, de Cuellar E, Dang DA, Dash-Yandag B, Deloria-Knoll M, Dherani M, Eap T, Ebruke BE, Echavarria M, de Freitas Lázaro Emediato CC, Fasce RA, Feikin DR, Feng L, Gentile A, Gordon A, Goswami D, Goyet S, Groome M, Halasa N, Hirve S, Homaira N, Howie SR, Jara J, Jroundi I, Kartasasmita CB, Khuri-Bulos N, Kotloff KL, Krishnan A, Libster R, Lopez O, Lucero MG, Lucion F, Lupisan SP, Marcone DN, McCracken JP, Mejia M, Moisi JC, Montgomery JM, Moore DP, Moraleda C, Moyes J, Munywoki P, Mutyara K, Nicol MP, Nokes DJ, Nymadawa P, da Costa Oliveira MT, Oshitani H, Pandey N, Paranhos-Baccalà G, Phillips LN, Picot VS, Rahman M, Rakoto-Andrianarivelo M, Rasmussen ZA, Rath BA, Robinson A, Romero C, Russomando G, Salimi V, Sawatwong P, Scheltema N, Schweiger B, Scott JA, Seidenberg P, Shen K, Singleton R, Sotomayor V, Strand TA, Sutanto A, Sylla M, Tapia MD, Thamthitiwat S, Thomas ED, Tokarz R, Turner C, Venter M, Waicharoen S, Wang J, Watthanaworawit W, Yoshida LM, Yu H, Zar HJ, Campbell H, Nair H; RSV Global Epidemiology Network. Global, regional, and national disease burden estimates of acute lower respiratory infections due to respiratory syncytial virus in young children in 2015: a systematic review and modelling study. Lancet 2017. Sep;390(10098):946–58. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30938-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collins PL, Fearns R, Graham BS. Respiratory syncytial virus: virology, reverse genetics, and pathogenesis of disease. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 2013;372:3–38. 10.1007/978-3-642-38919-1_1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mufson MA, Orvell C, Rafnar B, Norrby E. Two distinct subtypes of human respiratory syncytial virus. J Gen Virol 1985;66 (Pt 10)(Pt 10):2111-24. 10.1099/0022-1317-66-10-2111 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chin J, Magoffin RL, Shearer LA, Schieble JH, Lennette EH. Field evaluation of a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine and a trivalent parainfluenza virus vaccine in a pediatric population. Am J Epidemiol 1969. Apr;89(4):449–63. 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a120957 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fulginiti VA, Eller JJ, Sieber OF, Joyner JW, Minamitani M, Meiklejohn G. Respiratory virus immunization. I. A field trial of two inactivated respiratory virus vaccines; an aqueous trivalent parainfluenza virus vaccine and an alum-precipitated respiratory syncytial virus vaccine. Am J Epidemiol 1969. Apr;89(4):435–48. 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a120956 - DOI - PubMed