By Alan Dove
Even though the National Academy of Science listed it as a top priority in 1999, cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine development has languished in a pharmaceutical backwater until recently. It was considered a money pit. "They've spent massive amounts of money already," says Gerd Maul, a virologist at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
But the mood may be shifting because of a completely unrelated virus. "CMV is going to be a target that all these companies are starting to look at, because of the success of HPV," says Vijay Samant, president and CEO of Vical. Samant is referring to Gardasil, the Merck vaccine for human papillomavirus approved this year by the FDA.
A successful CMV vaccine could reach a similar market, but with less controversy. "The real market is females of childbearing age who are CMV-negative," says Samant. Because CMV is not sexually transmitted, giving such a vaccine to ...
