Opportunities and constraints in schistosomiasis vaccine development: infection characteristics and industry realities

Abstract

The notes provided in this article relate to two components of the development of vaccines against schistosomiasis: (1) The characteristics of schistosome infections (eg. features of the schistosome life cycle), and the parasite itself, that have implications for vaccination strategies; (2) The characteristics of the biopharmaceutical industry that have implications for product development. As will be seen, these two topic areas are not vastly disparate.

Keywords

• schistosomiasis
• vaccines
• life cycle
• immunopathology
• pharmaceutical industry