Privately held, Honolulu-based biotech company Hawaii Biotech Inc. is in the pre-clinical stage of developing a vaccine intended for the Zika virus. A cure is yet to be found for Zika, the mosquito-borne illness that has been strongly suspected to be linked to birth defects in babies.
The company's president and CEO Dr. Elliot Parks claimed to have begun research months ago.
Hawaii Biotech Inc. is using proteins and not whole or live viruses in vaccine development, believing the protein approach to be better in terms of speed and safety.
Parks says that the vaccine is not ready to reach clinical trial stage yet. He is confident that they have the experience, capability and platform to move fast.
The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that Zika is spreading wildly. It also provided an approximation of people who could be affected by Zika as 4 million in North, Central and South America.
Zika has not spread to the Islands or the Mainland yet. If it does get introduced, Parkers assumes it should stay isolated. "If Zika would ever to come to Hawaii I'd imagine it would be in isolated outbreaks," he said. "I certainly hope so."
This is not Hawaii Biotech Inc.'s first vaccine for a virus. In the past it has developed vaccines for other diseases as well, like the West Nile virus and dengue fever. In 2010, it sold its early-stage dengue vaccine candidate to Merck & Co Inc. Their Zika vaccine project is being support using their own funding - at least for now.
Concerns over Zika have been growing worldwide, with airlines, carriers and cruise companies offering pregnant women and their companions a chance of getting a refunds postponing their trips or rescheduling them to areas not affected by Zika, after the CDC issued a travel alert.
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