First pill for dengue shows promise in human challenge trial
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[October 20, 2023]
By Jennifer Rigby
(Reuters) - A pill for dengue fever developed by Johnson & Johnson
appeared to protect against a form of the virus in a handful of patients
in a small human challenge trial in the United States, according to data
presented by the company on Friday.
There are currently no specific treatments for dengue, a growing disease
threat, the company said ahead of presentation of the data at the
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting in
Chicago.
“It is the first ever to show antiviral activity against dengue,” Marnix
Van Loock, who oversees emerging pathogens research for J&J’s Janssen
division, said of the drug.
In human challenge trials, researchers intentionally expose healthy
volunteers to a pathogen to test a vaccine or treatment, or better
understand the disease they cause.
Dengue fever, while often asymptomatic, is also known as “break bone
fever” for the severity of the joint pain and spasms that some patients
experience. It has long been a scourge across much of Asia and Latin
America, causing millions of infections each year and tens of thousands
of deaths, and is likely to spread further as climate change makes more
areas hospitable for the mosquitoes that spread it, the World Health
Organization’s chief scientist Jeremy Farrar said earlier this month.
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In the trial done with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
10 volunteers were given a high dose of the J&J pill five days before
being injected with a type of dengue. They continued to take the pill
for 21 days afterwards.
Six of the 10 showed no detectable dengue virus in their blood after
being exposed to the pathogen, as well as no signs that their immune
system had responded to infection by the virus over 85 days of
monitoring.
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![](../images/102023PIX/health25.jpg)
An assistant holds a test tube with an Aedes aegypti mosquito at the
CNEA (National Atomic Energy Commission), in Ezeiza, in the
outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina April 12, 2023. REUTERS/Agustin
Marcarian/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/20/images/ads/current/businessdirectory_dailycover_2023.png) The five people in a placebo group,
who were also injected with dengue, all showed detectable virus when
tested. Trial participants received standard care from medical
professionals where necessary, and the virus used was a weakened
version to minimise symptoms.
The positive early data supports ongoing Phase II trials of the pill
to prevent the four different types of dengue in a real
world-setting where the disease is common, J&J said. The next step
will be testing it as a treatment.
The drug works by blocking the action of two viral proteins,
preventing the virus from making copies of itself. It was
well-tolerated by all trial participants, J&J said.
A key question for the future will be ensuring access to the new
drug, if it works on a larger scale, in many of the low- and
middle-income countries where it is most needed, an echo of the
challenge for the dengue vaccine the WHO backed earlier this month.
“We’re working on it,” said Van Loock, adding that it was early
days.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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