APPROACHES TO A VACCINE AGAINST HEPATITIS-A - DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF AN INACTIVATED VACCINE

The basis for the development of a vaccine against hepatitis A was lai d in the 1970s, when virus was replicated in cell culture. Adaptation to growth in cell culture resulted in attenuation and sufficient quant ities of virus particles, allowing the development of both live attenu ated and inactivated vaccines. Testing of candidate vaccines in volunt eers began in the early 1980s, Recently, a formaldehyde-inactivated wh ole-virion hepatitis A vaccine, the first licensed vaccine against hep atitis A, was introduced in many countries worldwide, and a live atten uated vaccine became available in the People's Republic of China. Othe r possible avenues for vaccine development include the use of either c onventional or recombinant DNA techniques to obtain subunit vaccines, empty capsids, live viral or bacterial vectors, genetic immunization, synthetic peptides, and anti-idiotypes.