Dose-Escalation Study on Safety and Immunogenicity of VPM1002 in Comparison With BCG in Healthy Male Volunteers

Goal of VPM is the development of a recombinant urease C-deficient listeriolysin expressing BCG vaccine strain (VPM1002) as a safe, well tolerated and efficacious vaccine against TB for residents in endemic areas and persons at risk in non-endemic areas. The new live vaccine VPM1002 should be at least as potent as the currently used BCG vaccine and should cause fewer side effects (Kaufmann, 2007; Grode et al., 2005). It is formulated as lyophilised bacteria to be resuspended before intradermal injection. First application of VPM1002 in human male volunteers will evaluate its safety, local and systemic tolerability as well as its immunogenicity. The study has a dose-escalating sequential design with comparison to commercially available BCG. 80 volunteers in Germany will randomly be allocated to 4 groups each with 20 volunteers stratified for their history of BCG-vaccination.