The ‘Behind the Headlines’ service from NHS Choices has featured a quality assessment of press reports discussing an early clinical trial of a hepatitis C vaccine that has shown ‘promising’ results.

The assessment discusses the research (a Phase I clinical trial) and notes that it focused on safety, showing that the vaccine is well tolerated and safe to use.  The preliminary results also indicate that the immune response may be similar to that of people with a natural immunity to the virus.  There are however a number of limitations to the study that should be considered before concluding that a preventative vaccine against hepatitis C will be available:

• Further research is needed to determine whether the vaccine will be effective over a longer period than a year.

• The researchers say that the specific strain of the hepatitis C virus used in the vaccine is common in the United States, but that it is not the most common strain in the UK. This may limit how useful any future vaccine is in this country.

• The researchers point out that there are difficulties surrounding the design and execution of future trials, as the virus is common to specific subgroups of people. Future trials will need to be conducted in high-risk groups in whom the predominant virus strain is the same as the strain used to develop the vaccine.

The authors comment that it is likely to be several years before any such vaccine could enter clinical use.