Newborn vaccine set to save lives The award-winning team behind an affordable and effective gastro vaccine is ensuring it will save as many newborn lives as possible globally. Long before COVID-19 vaccines became the focus of many of our conversations, Melbourne scientists laid the groundwork to protect infants against a common and potentially deadly form of dehydrating diarrhoea. After more than 50 years of hard work, the team has reached another critical milestone in vaccinating babies in emerging countries – and globally – against rotavirus gastroenteritis. It all began in 1973, when Professor Ruth Bishop, Professor Ian Holmes and their Melbourne team discovered rotavirus, leading to critical Murdoch Children’s research to better understand it. The discovery has so far inspired four oral rotavirus vaccines administered to babies from six weeks of age, which have saved countless lives in more than 100 countries, including Australia. Global Vaccine Action Plan data shows that from 2011-2020, up to 900,000 deaths were prevented. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Enteric Diseases Group and RV3 Rotavirus Vaccine Program leader, University of Melbourne’s Professor Julie Bines and her team are now collaborating internationally to ensure that even more children are protected. Their latest research in Malawi has helped pave the way for what could be a highly effective vaccine for many thousands of babies across Africa and low-middle income countries globally.
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Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Inspiring life-saving vaccines
New hope for African newborns
After discovering a strain of rotavirus in the late 1980s that didn’t make babies sick, Murdoch Children’s researchers used it to develop the oral RV3-BB vaccine, which can be administered at birth.
The latest research shows that RV3-BB is safe and produces a robust immune response in African infants.
This has many benefits. Birth is a good time for health services to access mother and baby, and research has shown that the newborn’s microbiome is immature and may present less of a barrier. “Newborn babies haven’t developed their gut microbiome,” Professor Bines explained. “There seems to be not as much of a challenge to the vaccine at that time.” Current rotavirus vaccines can only be given at six weeks, but providing protection from birth could save many more lives. Trials show promise Clinical trials for RV3-BB, which was named after Professor Bishop and colleague Professor Graeme Barnes, have been completed in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and now Malawi. After years of rigorous research in collaboration with Universitas Gadjah Mada and Indonesian Government manufacturer BioFarma, which has developed a halal vaccine to reflect local preferences, there are now plans to introduce the vaccine into the Indonesian National Immunisation Program in 2023. But a major challenge that existing rotavirus vaccines have faced is uneven effectiveness in some parts of the world. They appear to be less effective in South Asian and African populations than in European populations, possibly due to variations in blood types. Professor Bines’ team has previously shown that the RV3-BB vaccine produces an immune response regardless of blood type so it may have an advantage in these high-risk populations.
Just published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, the phase 2 clinical trial conducted with the University of Liverpool found a reduced dose of RV3-BB produced the same immune response as a higher dose. Professor Bines co-led the study with University of Liverpool Medical Microbiology Professor Nigel Cunliffe. Their teams assessed the safety and immune reaction to three different amounts of the RV3-BB vaccine in 711 Malawian infants at birth or in their first weeks of life (trial participants, pictured left). The mid-dose performed as well as the higher dose, providing an opportunity to reduce the cost of manufacturing the vaccine, making it more affordable. “It’s safe for newborn babies and it produces an immune response in babies in Africa,” Professor Bines said. “It should be a costeffective vaccine.” Helping those who need it most Globally, rotaviruses still kill around 215,000 children aged under five each year, down from about 800,000 pre-vaccines. Many hospital stays have also been prevented. “The vaccines have made a major difference,” Professor Bines said, adding that improved hygiene and other advances had also played a role. The World Health Organization recommends all children receive a rotavirus vaccine, but millions still miss out. Murdoch Children’s is working with manufacturers to make the RV3-BB vaccine more affordable and accessible in African and Asian countries where vaccines can be cost-prohibitive.
Eureka, she’s got it! The work of Murdoch Children’s Professor Julie Bines (back row, second from right) has been recognised with an Australian Museum Eureka Prize for her contribution in leading the development of RV3-BB, a vaccine that can prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis from birth, potentially saving thousands of young lives.
Don Cameron, Yati Soenarto, Jim Buttery and Margie Danchin, and scientists such as Ruth Bishop, Ian Holmes and Carl Kirkwood, and the many, many others who have contributed directly or indirectly to this body of work.”
Professor Bines’ work on RV3-BB has been in making it a safe, effective and affordable newborn rotavirus vaccine, particularly accessible for those in developing countries where the standard vaccines offered to Australian infants and children can be cost-prohibitive. “Rotavirus continues to be a major cause of death in young children and infants around the world, particularly in the poorest countries of Africa and Asia,” noted Professor Bines. “We’re working with emerging country vaccine manufacturers to produce a safe, effective and affordable vaccine that has the potential to save many thousands of lives and prevent suffering in many more. “This award is a wonderful acknowledgment of the efforts by many over the last four decades – including inspiring clinicians such as Graeme Barnes,
For example, PT BioFarma is conducting a phase 3 clinical trial of the halal RV3-BB vaccine in Indonesia, with results due in 2023. “Working with different manufacturers also provides an opportunity to develop the most appropriate approach for their population,” Professor Bines said.
In addition to leading the RV3 Rotavirus Vaccine Program at MCRI, Professor Bines is the Victor and Loti Smorgon Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. She is a paediatric gastroenterologist and Head of Clinical Nutrition and Intestinal Rehabilitation at The Royal Children’s Hospital. Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are awarded annually in recognition of organisations and individuals who have contributed to science and the understanding of science.
Hear how Julie’s new rotavirus vaccine can prevent this nasty virus from birth
MCRI is a signatory to the ACFID Code of Conduct, which is a voluntary, selfregulatory sector code of good practice. As a signatory we are committed and fully adhere to the ACFID Code of Conduct, conducting our work with transparency, accountability and integrity.
Republished with permission from pursuit.unimelb.edu.au
Annual Report 2021
Celebrating 35 years
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