Kenya is among three African nations set to participate in a large-scale clinical trial aimed at testing a promising new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine.

The trial will be spearheaded by IAVI, a global research organisation and Biofabri, a Spanish biotech firm, as they seek to assess the effectiveness of the MTBVAC vaccine in preventing TB in adolescents and adults with latent TB infections.

In a statement, IAVI said that the trial, known as IMAGINE (Investigation of MTBVAC toward Accelerating Global Immunization for a Neglected Epidemic) phase 2b Clinical trial which will involve 4,300 participants with latent TB infection, will be conducted across 15 sites in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania.

In Kenya, the study will be conducted at the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Center for Respiratory Disease Research in Nairobi and the Victoria Biomedical Research Institute in Kisumu.

"MTBVAC is a promising vaccine candidate being evaluated in the IMAGINE trial, a large-scale safety and efficacy trial evaluating the prevention of TB disease in adolescents and adults with latent TB infection in South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania," the statement read.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that most often affects the lungs and spreads through the air when people with TB cough, sneeze, or spit.

In 2023, an estimated 10.8 million people fell ill with TB worldwide, including 6.0 million men, 3.6 million women, and 1.3 million children according to the World Health Organization(WHO).

According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2022, approximately 1.1 percent of the Kenyan population is currently suffering from tuberculosis (TB).

A Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) is when TB bacteria are present in the body but are not causing symptoms and are not contagious. 

According to WHO, about a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria. About 5–10 percent of people infected with TB will eventually get symptoms and develop TB disease.

The only approved vaccine for TB is the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which only provides partial protection to children but does not prevent TB disease in adolescents or adults thus increasing the need for another vaccine to combat the disease.

"A TB vaccine effective in children, adolescents, and adults would save millions of lives otherwise lost to TB over time," IAVI stated.

According to IAVI, the single-shot vaccine MTBVAC has produced promising results, with its phase 2 trial having shown comparable immunogenicity and safety profiles at different doses as compared to BCG.

“The IMAGINE trial is an important new effort to develop a vaccine capable of combating the world’s deadliest disease,” said Lewis Schrager, head of IAVI’s TB vaccine development efforts.

[email protected]