Hepatitis B Vaccine Clinical Trial

To determine the efficacy of a hepatitis vaccine in preventing hepatitis B.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

BACKGROUND:

Although most carriers of HBsAg are asymptomatic, a substantial proportion eventually develop chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis. There is also overwhelming evidence that the hepatitis B virus is the single most important causative factor of hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus, mass immunization programs against HBV infection may ultimately affect not only the incidence of acute hepatitis B and the pool of chronic carriers but may also reduce the morbidity and mortality from chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Krugman and his co-workers laid the groundwork for active immunization against hepatitis B in 1970 to 1973. They discovered that a 1:10 dilution of hepatitis B infective serum lost its infectivity when boiled for one minute but retained its antigenicity and prevented hepatitis B in 70 percent of vaccinated subjects. Hilleman and his colleagues at the Merck Institute of Therapeutic Research developed a more sophisticated vaccine consisting of highly purified, formalin-inactivated HBsAg particles derived from the plasma of chronic carriers of the antigen. By 1978, data were sufficient to permit testing in a clinical trial.

The first subject was inoculated in November 1978, and by October 1979, recruitment had ended. In May 1980, all trial events were reviewed and classified by an expert panel. In June 1980 the code of vaccine and placebo allocation was broken.

DESIGN NARRATIVE:

Randomized, double blind, fixed-sample. A total of 549 subjects were allocated to the vaccine group in which they were treated with highly purified formalin-inactivated virus subunits derived from the plasma of chronic carriers of hepatitis B. A total of 534 were allocated to the placebo group. Both groups received injections at 0, 1 month, and 6 months unless evidence of infection developed before the series was completed.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 3

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 36 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Men at high risk for hepatitis B virus infection, 36 years of age or younger, no recent symptoms of hepatitis, blood specimen negative for HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBe.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Masking: Double

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 1978

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 1980

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 27, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 27, 1999

First Posted (Estimate)

October 28, 1999

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

November 26, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 25, 2013

Last Verified

April 1, 2012

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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