GSK’s Therapeutic Herpes Vaccine Fails to Meet Efficacy Objective in Phase I/II Trial

Trial Outcome:
GSK's therapeutic herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine candidate, GSK3943104, failed to meet its primary efficacy objective in a combined phase I/II proof-of-concept study.

Safety Concerns:
No safety concerns were observed during the trial, but the vaccine will not progress to phase III studies due to its lack of efficacy.

Future Research:
Despite this setback, GSK intends to evaluate the totality of the data and other studies to progress future research and development of its HSV program, given the unmet medical need and burden associated with genital herpes.

Impact of HSV Vaccines:
Therapeutic HSV vaccines have the potential to reduce the incidence of HSV-2 and HIV, but their impact is highly sensitive to the duration of protection and the proportion of the population that receives regular boosters.

Current Challenges:
Developing an effective HSV vaccine has been challenging due to the virus's ability to evade the immune system and the high frequency of seropositive individuals.